A Captured Beast Within A Human Skin
by Uniasus
Summary: Just because Sector 7 is gone does not mean the US government has come clean with what they want with Cybertronian technology and the extent they are willing to go to get it. And as Sam discovers, other countries are thinking the same thing.
1. A Day in the Life

**Disclaimer**: Transformers belongs to Hasbro, and the events in the recent movies to Dreamworks. Those elements of the following story thus belong to me.

**Dedication**: This chapter, no, entire story, is dedicated to those who voted for this story on the NaNoWriMo poll on my profile page. You had nothing to go by and yet still selected this story. I'ld name you, but those aren't attached to votes. Seeing as how it's half-way through the month, I'ld figure I'ld give you a taste of what can of writing worms you've opened. ^_~

* * *

A Captured Beast Within a Human Skin

**Chapter 1 – A Day in the Life**

If there was one thing Sam could say about the United States government, it was that they were always one time. At least on the day-to-day things, political deadlines were a different matter.

Everyday at seven forty sharp they would pull into his driveway, the passenger getting out of the car to walk around it and open the door for him. Sam would pat Bee on the hood and then make his way into the black car. The door would close behind him, and the driver would greet him with a "Good Morning Mr. Enig". The other agent would reenter the car and before he was fully settled they would be out of his drive way. Punctual and rhythmic.

Sam had tried to get them to talk to him, but the only thing he got were yeses, nos, or a four word or less sentence. He had given up in being able to have a conversation with them by the end of the first month. Sam had managed to get their names though, Airman First Class Stacy drove and Senior Airman Kantz rode shot-gun. They both sat ram-rod straight, Stacy with his eyes on the road and Kantz on the road and area surrounding them. Every so often Kantz would look into the rear mirror. Sam had not yet decided if the Senior Airman was looking at him or checking for followers. Either way, he liked to make up stories about them during the commute. Stacy worked nights as a stripper and Kantz made home brew beer in the barracks.

They never took the same route every day, there was about seven of them that they cycled through randomly. Sam could never tell which one they were going to take until they were already on it. He swore the airmen decided their path by pulling a number at random from a hat. The lab was not _that_ secret.

Well, maybe it was. They would not let Bumblebee take him there after all, but he was more inclined to believe that was because of alien induced paranoia rather than keeping secrets from civilians. Plus, Sam was fairly sure Bee knew all about it through satellites and government servers and just played dumb when asked what he knew about the base.

Eventually, they pulled into the parking garage for DigiComp Storage, a web-based company that provided server storage space for file back up or other purposes to those who wanted it. The company was a real one and not just simply a front, but only actually used the first floor of the seven-story building. The other six and the three below were the one of the Air Forces Research and Development project bases.

"Thanks for the ride guys!" Sam called as he exited the car at the main doors. As expected, neither one answered and then drove off to park. When he was ready to go home, the secretary would call and the two soldiers would pick him up at the lower doors to take him home. He did not really know what they did during the time he worked, but suspected it was a lot of simple tasks and using the living quarters on the fourth floor. Sam would never say the Air Force did not take care of him, that floor contained small bedrooms, locker rooms, a gym, and several recreation areas. It was not that uncommon for him and his partner to play a round of Super Smash Brothers before heading home for the night. Or to join a lunchtime foosball tournament.

The lobby was full of light, thanks to large windows of bulletproof glass, but very sparse in terms of anything else. There really was only the front desk, behind which was a set of elevators and hallway that led to the offices and servers of DigiComp.

"Good morning Mr. Enig," Ms. Scott greeted him as he came up the half a set of stairs that led to the parking garage. In charge of entry security, all Sam really knew about her was that she was taken and could kick his ass better then half of the NEST crew.

"Good morning Ms. Scott," he sang in greeting as he walked past the desk to the elevators. He swiped his card key and pressed the up button. The one on his left dinged and opened its doors for him.

"Hold the elevator!" a voice echoed through the lobby. Sam pressed the open door button and stuck his head out of the metal contraction to see a slightly overweight, black haired guy, in his late twenties running toward him.

"Tom," Sam grinned as his partner made it into the elevator, not gasping but still taking in more air than normal. "Have a good weekend?" he asked, pushing the button for the seventh floor.

"Yeah, I had tickets to see the Raiders so I went with a couple of friends."

"Did we win?"

Tom sent him an astonished look. "You're a 24 year old guy and you don't follow football?!"

Sam shrugged. "I've never been very athletic and just never saw the point of watching people beat each other up. But beach volleyball, now that's a different story." He gave the other man a wink.

"Sam you devil." Tom gave him a light punch in the arm as the door split to release them.

"What can I say, I'm a young, healthy, adult male." He shrugged as they headed down the short hallway to their lab space. Tom swiped his card and opened the door, indicating that Sam should enter first with a mock bow.

"Why, thank you sir," Sam replied in a false soprano.

The lights automatically activated as they stepped in, starting with where they were standing and then moving away to light up the rest of the lab space. It was large, just shy of half the floor with roof access on top of the already abnormally high ceiling. There were bits and parts of mechanics lying on tables everywhere, papers and notes scattered in loose leaf piles and in some cases tapped to walls, there was a large computer station on the right wall, and several mini data accesses were placed around the room to enable data retrieving and entering from project stations.

Once all the little parts they were working on were perfected and combined, Sam and Tom would have a self-repairing satellite. The satellite was expensive sure, but it would save money in the long run by avoiding the cost of having NASA run repair missions for defense satellites. It would also ensure a longer life then what current satellites were getting, extending it from ten years to twenty.

There were lab coats waiting for them on pegs by the door, but they ignored them. It is not like they were a requirement in the lab enforced by the Air Force, and Sam always found the sleeves annoying and at times they hampered him when he was working on satellite entrails. Tom always claimed it clamped his style.

There was a netbook lying on a shelf next to the coats, plugged in with a bright green light indicating it was fully charged. Next to it was a cord for a second one.

Sam shot a look at Tom who sheepishly pulled a netbook out of bag. "I couldn't just leave that piece of code alone! It would have bugged me all weekend, driving me insane if I didn't work on it."

The brunette just shook his head. "Whatever. Did you finish it at least you workaholic?"

"Of course, you doubt my skills?" Tom placed a hand over his chest in mock hurt. "And I'm less of a workaholic than you. I actually go home every night."

Sam scowled. It was not his fault that there were times he spent all night working. It usually happened about once a week and was a result of his All Spark altered mind obsessing more that usual over a problem, knowing that the answer or project completion was only this far away. It never let him leave in those instances until he was done or too exhausted to do the task without risking damage to the satellite.

Not that Tom knew that, in fact only Bumblebee did. And maybe Ratchet, Sam would not have put it past the scout to inform the medic on things concerning the matter. But since not once had Ratchet showed up at his house in the two years he had been working with the Air Force Sam assumed it was not anything to be concerned about and was just thankful for the beds on the fourth floor.

"Right then, want to work on Ed?" Sam grabbed his nexbook and made his way over to a table on the left side of the room.

Normally they worked separately, Tom on the programming code and Sam on the actual building. Ed was the current part of the satellite they were working on, an arm that had four fingers with Swiss army knife like endings. Sam had finished working on the screwdriver, one based on a magnetic system and as Tom had announced he had finished writing the commands that the base computer would send to Ed's second finger.

At the moment, Ed was not hooked up to a computer mind so Tom connected it to his netbook. "Right, let's see. You have a practice sheet somewhere around here?"

Sam snagged one off the table behind them. It was not actually a sheet, more like a box that had eight screws in the lid. More then any panel on the completed satellite would have, but if Ed could handle this it could hand proper work. Sam set the box down in front of Ed.

"Let's see what you wasted your weekend on Tom," Sam joked.

The other man did not answer, instead typing into his computer. Ed jerked and then smoothly extended and curled his fingers. They had gotten that down last Monday, and now had moved on to the individual appendences. Ed's arm extended out, putting the hand closer to the practice box and the second finger extended towards the first screw.

Sam held his breath, hoping this worked. They had been on a roll lately, Tom's and his work coming together and working within a couple of hours of combining them. So of course there would be a snag eventually. The fingertip rotated, successfully removing the screw from the lid. And then, Ed dropped it.

"Shit." Sam swore, running a hand through his hair. The satellite would only have so many replacement parts in space and thus had to conserve everything it could. Dropping a screw in space meant loosing it for good. Thus, Ed was supposed to hold on to the screw in his fingertip until it came time to close the panel or what ever it was he was working on. And if more that one screw was needed to be removed, the second finger was hollow so the screws could be safely stored inside.

"Is this a me thing or a you thing?" Tom asked.

Sam shook his head, "It's gotta be both. I mean, you were gonna have Ed store it, right?" Tom nodded. "Well, that didn't happen. As a default though he should have been able to still keep it on his finger, something happened to the magnets."

"Drawing board?"

"Drawing board."

Tom left Sam to his work, heading to the main computer station to find what part of the code went wrong. Sam did not envy the computer engineer, looking at code for long periods of time made his head hurt and trying to find the mistake would really get an ache going behind his eyes.

Instead he turned to Ed, hands on his hips. "Right buddy, let's see what went wrong."

He and Tom spent the day in silence, aside from the occasionally swear word here and there. Most of those came from Sam, while Tom seemed content to make primal noises of aggression and helplessness from time to time.

By the end of the day, Sam's head was pounding and he still had not found out what the issue was. He just knew that the next night would not find him asleep in his own bed but rather either on a bed downstairs or slumped over the table.

"Arg. Ed you really are a stubborn bastard, you know that?" Call it a habit from spending so much time with animate technology, but Sam talked to everything and even gave it a name in most cases. The netbook was June, his phone Barbie, the computer at home was a stubborn male by the name of William, and his favorite coffee maker Eve. It just seemed wrong after knowing his car was alive to not treat other mechanics is a similar manner since they had had the same capacity.

Well, before he had destroyed the All Spark. Sam still felt bad about that. He had essentially shattered the Holy Grail and then threw it in a foundry. The Autobots kept telling him that losing such an artifact was not that bad of a deal, they had been without it for over ten thousand years and while it was the easiest way of creating a child it was not the only one. It had taken him awhile to stop feeling guilty about it, and even now he still did once in a blue moon, so he supposed talking to the technologies around him helped soften it. Bee just thought it was funny. But then he was always going on about how twelve years of being on Earth had not given him any insight into the human mind.

"This would be so much easier if you could just tell me what went wrong," Sam glared at the mechanic hand in front of him. "I mean, what it is Ed? The magnets? Power? Size of the fitting?!" He threw his hands up in exasperation but Ed did not even twitch.

"Right, that does it buddy," Sam felt Tom's hand land on his shoulder. He had not even heard his lab partner walk over. "I know you talk to Ed, but when I can hear you from across the lab it's quitting time."

Tom reached around Sam and closed the open netbook. "One round, or two, we'll see, of killing each other with on the Nintendo and then home you go."

Sam sighed in defeat, picking up June and making his way to the door. "All right, all right. I give." He plugged the netbook in. "Just give me, like two minutes to clean up okay?"

Tom gave a one shoulder shrug. "Sure, I probably should too." Sam looked towards Tom's station to see a candy bag wrapper and the remains of lunch. Had Sam even ate his? He did not remember stopping. Bee would freak if he found out.

Sam set to work organizing and tidying up his table. He stroked Ed's second finger. "You're such trouble, you know that?" Ed did not answer, but Sam thought the finger twitched in his direction as he retrieved his hand. He stared at the satellite arm, but nothing else happened so he put it off as a product of his over worked mind. That was happening a lot lately; maybe he should take a vacation.

Tom was waiting by the door, radiating a 'I'll-force-you-to-leave-if-I-have-to' aura.

"You can't take your netbook home."

"Wasn't planning on it," Tom pointed to the shelf showing two charging computers blinking blue.

Tom walked out the door, Sam just behind him. "Good night Ed!" he called as he switched the lights off. He could not be sure, seeing as the lab was in the process of going dark, but Sam swore Ed's hand dropped the to the left in a half wave.

He turned to Tom to ask if he had seen it, but got distracted.

"I call shotgun on Link," the black haired man declared.

"Not if I get there first!" Sam took off for the elevator, but the door did not close quickly enough to prevent Tom from getting in.

The computer programmer grinned and pressed the button for the fourth floor. "Race ya."

Sam tightened his grip on his messenger bag. "Sure, but get ready to lose. I'm faster." He gave Tom a devil's grin.

The elevator dinged and Sam squeezed by his partner, making his way to the rec room a slow spirit. He need not have bothered; another team had already commandeered the gaming system.

"Winner!" the TV exclaimed while Jigglypuff did a victory dance.

Sam sputtered in laugher. "Who lost to Jigglypuff?" The older man on the right, Shaun, raised his hand.

"I got ambushed by three pokémon at once."

"What's the hold up?" Tom asked, seeing Sam still in the doorway when he finally entered the rec room. He peered over his partner's shoulders. "Oh, hi Shaun, Alice. Wait, Jigglypuff won?"

Shaun smacked himself in the forehead. "Yes, now can we drop it?"

His research partner, Alice, gave him a sympatric smile before transforming it into a competitive smile as she looked at Tom and Sam. "Team Satellite vs. Team Bullet?"

"You're on," Tom gently shoved Sam out of the way and snagged a controller.

"Just let me warm something up," Sam made his way to the microwave on the back counter and removed some left over pizza from dinner the night before. Yep, he had forgotten to eat lunch again. He stuck it in the microwave and gave it a soft pat on top as it started up.

"Who do you want Sam?" Alice called over her shoulder.

"Link."

"Taken."

"Damit." Stupid Tom. "Um…I'll take Star Fox or Roy."

Alice was a woman in her late thirties with the most vibrant red hair Sam had ever seen. Not actually of Irish decent, she had immigrated to the Untied States during high school from Scotland and always shot down those who called her Irish. Shaun was one of the older researchers in the building, just climbed over the hill the past year and he already had a head full of salt and pepper hair.

Together they worked in the basement labs developing a new type of high heat round that could be used in an easy to carry gun. Both were pretty good marksmen with guns, but swords and paper fans were a different story. Team Satellite won both rounds, though the second one was close. For not being Irish, Alice sure had a lot of luck.

Shaun called Ms. Scott to inform her they were ready to leave while the rest of them rolled up the cords and cleaned up.

"Is there a reason you always pick a pokémon?" Sam asked Alice.

"My son never gives me another option," she laughed.

They headed down to the parking garage, talking and laughing the entire time. Shaun invited them to a Halloween party his wife was throwing next weekend, costumes only. Sam grinned. He had gone to the party last year and had a good time, had even met a cute girl. He'ld have to come up with a cool costume.

Sam did not know how they managed it, but each of their designated cars came at essentially the same time, all in single file. After a mass of 'good-bye's and 'see you tomorrow's they all slid into the cars and took off.

The ride home had Sam debating over whether he should eat what was left of his lunch or not. He was _hungry_ but give it less then an hour and he would be home and could have proper meal. He settled for eating a couple of his carrot sticks and draining his water bottle to take the edge off.

"Thanks for the ride guys!" Sam exited the car after it pulled into his driveway. As expected, he did not get a response from Stacy or Kantz. He did not even bother watching the car leave, his attention instead focused on the car in the driveway flashing his headlights at him in greeting.

"Hey Bee," Sam walked up to the car and ran his hand up the hood.

Bumblebee let out a high-pitched chirrup and Sam gave him a great smile.

"_Welcome home…You have been gone for far too long…"_

"Thanks. Hey, you mind if we head to the grocery store. I forgot to eat lunch so I'm thinking a large steak dinner."

The door clicked open in a way that said 'yea! A ride!' and 'I'm disappointed you don't take care of yourself' at the same time. How Bee did it, Sam had no clue and sometimes he wondered if the better question was how did he know. Bumblebee was at the moment, a car. Will Lennox though had expressed similar thoughts so he was not alone in his puzzlement.

Sam rubbed his thumb over the Autobot decal in the center of the steering wheel as Bee pulled out, a habit he had started the first time he had sunk into the Camaro's seats. The moment did not last long however, Bumblebee was first and foremost his guardian.

"You really should eat lunch Sam," the voice came from the radio in the center of the dashboard.

Sam sighed, "Yeah, I know. Today was one of those days though."

The arrived at the store, and Sam got out before Bee could lock him in. "I'm really hungry," he said as explanation before leaving the yellow car in the parking lot.

Ten minutes later he walked out the store with a steak, some veggies, a six-pack, and a day old pumpkin pie. He slipped into the driver's seat, placed the grocery bag on the passenger seat, and buckled up as Bee's engine turned on. The Camaro pulled out of the parking lot at took a right. Looked like it would be the long way home.

"One of those days?" Bee asked as if their conversation had not been interrupted.

"Ed was not behaving, and so I was forced to work on him all through the day. You can probably not expect me home tomorrow night."

There was sound that resembled too long fingernails tapping on piano keys, something Sam had come to link to a human's 'ah' of understanding.

"Yeah," Sam leaned his head back on the headrest. He stayed that way for a while. "I'm thinking a vacation. Any suggestions?"

"_We are family,"_ sounded over the radio.

"Sounds good, I haven't been home since Easter."

Bee seemed to bounce a little on his shocks in happiness.

"Don't know if any of the Autobots would be there though, sorry Bee. You wanna go to Oregon instead? Aren't they trying to build another NEST headquarters there?"

"Maybe we should wait until you have managed to acquire your time off, nether your parents nor those in Oregon would object to a short notice of our visit. Tranquility is much closer, but if you manage to get a long vacation I shall like it very much if we can visit those working on the base."

"Right, I'll try to put a request in tomorrow sometime."

They had reached his house by this time and the yellow Camaro pulled all the way up the drive so Sam only had a few steps to walk before he stood in front of the grill. He lit it, and then retreated into the house to get dinner ready.

* * *

**Songs in order of apperance: **King Diamond's "Welcome Home" and Sister Sledge's "We Are Family"

**A/N:** For those of you who know me, you're probably amazed by this chapter length. . I'm not setting a tone here, I'm not promising that all such chapters will be this length (though the second one looks like it might). Hopefully, those who voted for this aren't disappointed, and if you want me to return my attentions to it I'ld suggest you go vote on my profile because right now my Kingdom Hearts fic is winning. Never fear though! Regardless I will still work on this, it would just mean a longer time between updates.

Reviews, thoughts, and hey even stuffed bunnies are appreciated.


	2. Morse Code

**Disclaimer:** Hasbro own the highly coveted rights to Transformers, not me sadly.

A Captured Beast Within a Human Skin

_By Uniasus

* * *

_

**Chapter 2 – Morse Code**

He did not own an alarm clock and instead relied on his cell phone. He purposely had selected the alarm tone to be the most annoying and loud one out of his options and kept it plugged in on his dresser across the room. At least once a week he regretted it, wanting nothing more that to hit a snooze button and roll over. But if he did Bee would most likely get him out of bed with a loud car alarm and not shut up until he hopped in the shower. Same result as cell phone Barbie, but Bee came with the added complication of upset neighbors.

Sam groaned and rolled over, starting when his feet left the bed. At some point in the night he had shifted to sleep on the bed's diagonal and rolling had removed the support from his shins. With a sigh, he got himself fully out of bed and shuffled to the bathroom to shower, Barbie trilling her last notes of the ditty as he closed the door behind him.

The shower was hot, almost scalding and with a yelp he quickly turned the knob only to turn it too much and be rewarded by cold water that burned just as much. He crowed the wall of the shower and fiddled with the faucet until the temperature was just as he liked. Well, at least he was up now.

He used to sing in the shower, but listening to a recording of that Bee had made one morning cured him of that habit. He still hummed though, choosing "Walking on Sunshine" for no particular reason this morning.

Whipping the steam from the mirror to enable to him to shave, he paused. You would think after six years he would have gotten used to it, but it still startled him from time to time. The face in the mirror, it was not him.

At least, not who he was supposed to be.

The surgeons had managed to decrease the size of his forehead, his eyebrows were also higher on his new brow then they had been on the old one. His check bones were more defined and chiseled, even more so than originally because his face had aged a little since the surgery. They were higher too. Thinner lips, a smaller chin, and his nose was smaller too. On a whole, he looked more feminine.

Mikaela had certainly found him cuter; she had told him so herself in the few hours before he had been taken way. Witness protection did not allow them to be together. They had kept in touch for a while, through the Autobots, but as time went on their communications had become less and less frequent. He had not heard from her in almost a year now.

He was 18 when the witness protection program took over his life. Bee was allowed to stay with him, with Megatron and Starscream still around who knew what could happen? It was really more of a protective measure against the rest of the human race than against the Deceptions. After having his face on news in every country, and what happened in Egypt being a larger cover up than Mission City, there was a really good chance the general public would corner him and hand him over to the first person who demanded him.

No, it was much safer for Sam Witwicky to disappear. To have him die in Egypt. The way back to the States had been filled with the angry shouts of his parents, which quickly gave into them just wanting to be with him. Sometimes they had just sat and stared at him, trying to memorize him. There had been a lot of kissing with Mikaela in closets too.

But ultimately, he had to leave them. Get a new face, a new name, Sam Enig, and move. He was eighteen, old enough to live on his own and that's what he did. Granted, he had a much better life than other eighteen year olds living on their own; the government gave him a monthly allowance and paid for his schooling.

Schooling which did not last as long as it should have. Apparently the All Spark knowledge was a permanent addition to his brain. It made him a certified science genius. With summer school he had gotten a BS in physics in two years. Another two and he had completed a PHD in mechanical engineering. Another year and he would have earned his masters in physics too, but the Air Force offered him a job and he took them up on the offer. He finished that physics master the following anyway through an on-line university.

His mind had just kept giving him more and more information, in amounts that had terrified him sometimes. Writing them down helped a lot, and Bee helped him translate the things he could not make sense of. Like the Cybertronian poetry that occupied his mind for two months during his first year working on the satellite. Ratchet had been rather surprised, not realizing that the All Spark had knowledge of the arts. Most of the poems ended up being religious though; Sam did not know if that meant the All Spark had been full of itself or if that was the only type of poems it had been exposed to. Lately, his discovery of new All Spark knowledge was slow and minute. It instead seemed to be occupied with his work. Which at times was a blessing or a curse. Engineering breakthroughs, no sleep; his inner scale came up balanced.

Sam looked down at his hand and noticed the watch next to it. Shit. His thinking had put him behind; should he forgo the shave or breakfast? A quick brush of his hand over his chin informed him that his stubble was not too bad, and the sound his stomach made demanded that he choose breakfast.

He slipped on the boxers sitting folded on the toilet seat cover and buckled the watch around his wrist again. After hanging the towel up, he remerged into his bedroom and headed straight for his closet. Shirt, pants, jacket; he just made sure they matched before putting them one and making his way downstairs after palming Barbie.

The fridge door chirruped when he opened it. Sam paused and stared at the door in his hand with suspicion. The noise came again and Sam leaned his body to look out the window. The Camaro that stared at him blinked his lights in greeting and Sam smiled back.

"Morning Bee."

"_Good Mornin', good mornin' to you!_"

Sam retreated to the refrigerator and grabbed a container of yogurt before making his way over to Eve, his god sent coffee maker. From the cabinet above he grabbed the mix and put in enough for a single cup. He held the bowl under the faucet, and then poured the water into the machine. A flick of switch and Eve started making gurgling noises that were the most musical sound he ever heard before he left for work.

He made his way through the strawberry yogurt before Eve finished, and got out his thermos for the good stuff. While the coffee finished up, Sam gathered what he needed for work. His bag was by the door, untouched from when he dropped in on the floor. Sam rifled through it to see if there was any leftovers from lunch the day before he could use again but was disappointed. There were a couple of granola bars that were useable; he added a quickly thrown together sandwich, an apple, and a water bottle.

Eve beeped, signaling she was done and Sam transferred the now freshly brewed coffee to his thermos. Slinging his bag over his shoulder, Sam grabbed his coffee and made his way outside to talk with Bee before Kantz and Stacy showed up.

"Next time Bee," he stifled a yawn as he locked the front door, "we need to get back sooner."

They always went for a long drive after dinner. Bee had found a new look out point over the Pacific Ocean and they had spent more time then Sam would have liked watching a storm crawl in. They had both been so enthralled with the sight that it was not until Sam started shivering from the cold wind that Bumblebee returned to his alt form and they drove home. The sidewalk was still a dark gray color and his mailbox was now a puddle island.

Bumblebee emitted a noise that Sam had come to understand meant the same as a human chuckle. He sent a playful swat in the direction of the yellow scout's hood. A familiar engine caught Sam's attention and he looked up just in time to see his ride arrive.

"I'll send you a text if I end up spending the night Bee," Sam called as he gently threw his bag inside the waiting car. Bee did not do anything that might blow his cover, but some how Sam got a feeling of contentment from the Camaro before settling himself into his seat. He wondered if Stacy and Kantz ever wondered about his strange habit of talking to his car. It was not exactly the most common thing to do, nor was it unheard of. They probably made allowances for him because he was an anti-social engineer. Sam grinned to himself.

Stacy drove the short route; meaning Sam had the entire elevator ride to himself when he arrived at the office. When the fourth floor lit up, Sam made a mental note to himself to not forgo lunch that day. If his messed up brain was not going to let him rest he would at least make sure he got to eat.

Sam slid his access card and entered the lab while flicking the lights on. Tom should arrive soon; he did not know how they managed it with car schedules and what not, but they never arrived at work more then fifteen minutes apart.

Grabbing netbook June, Sam made his way to Ed. His mind was already spinning off ideas and suggestions, and after he managed to translate the Cybertronian language his brain was thinking in he opened up June to find a starting point.

"All right Ed, let's start with this," Sam looked up from the computer and paused. Something was off about Ed's table, but he could not place it. Oh wait, what was he doing so close to the edge? Sam liked to keep the satellite parts in the center of the table to limit the possibility of them falling off. He must have pushed him aside while cleaning the table last night. Sam walked around the table and pushed Ed back to the center where he belonged.

"You're living dangerously there Ed," Sam shook a finger at the mechanical hand. "Don't do that, I don't want you to hurt yourself."

"Talking to them again Sam?" Tom asked as he walked through the door.

Sam shot the other man a grin. "Of course! You knew know, they might answer back one day."

"I'm sure," Tom played along. "Watch, Ed'll be using Morse code by the end of the day."

Sam laughed. "I'm sure he will," he said while grabbing a tool from the end of the table.

He heard Tom settle in at his computer station and set to work himself. Yesterday he had determined that it was not the magnets that were the issue, but rather the coils that kept them charged. Sam had worked out a system where the magnets were constantly charged by a polarized field, but something was preventing most of the charge from keeping the magnet magnetized.

He fiddled here and there, working mostly by trial and error, which was his preferred method. The All Spark liked to work in a stream of consciousness way. It had confused him at first, thinking that being Cybertronian in origin it would logically calculate relays and mechanics that would work after much thinking to itself. Even after seeing that the new Autobot, Wheeljack, who had arrived just last year work in a similar method, Sam had not figured out if it was the All Sparks normal approach to things or if it had just adapted to the process Sam had used for years.

Barbie's alarm went off from inside his pocket. Sam blinked, pushing Ed's third finger away from him and then turning his attention to his watch. The digital read out read twelve noon, time to eat.

"Alright Ed, let me finish curling this wire and then I've got to go have lunch." Sam pushed Ed's first finger away this time, he was pushing a lot of fingers out of his way today, and drew the second one closer to continue working.

"Let's try this," Sam fiddled with the charge field when he became aware of a clicking noise. It had been in the background for a while now, but now it was louder and caused him to actually pay attention to it. Tom must really be going at it for Sam to hear him clacking on the keyboard from practically across the room.

"Hey Tom, what's got you so excited?" Sam looked up from Ed and towards Tom's station, only to not see the other man was not there.

"Tom?" Sam turned around, searching the lab for his partner and not finding him. The clicking grew louder, more prominent, and now that Sam was actually paying attention to it he noticed there was rhythm to it. A beat of long and short taps, which Sam eventually recognized as Morse code.

The Autobots and NEST had made sure he learned it after what happened in 2007 when the Decepticons had taken out everything but long range communications, leaving the Secretary of Defense to give out orders with dots and dashes to the Air Force to give cover when they entered Mission City.

Long, short, short, long. X? Who in the world would just constantly key out a single letter? Something must be stuck in the window, tapping out rhythm in the wind. Sam made his way to the closest window to check it out, but the farther he got from his workstation the softer the noise became.

"But X? That's senseless, and I'm probably just reading into things " Sam said to himself, looking around the lab tables as he made his way back to Ed.

The clicking hiccupped and then continued, more drawn out. Long, short, short, long. The pauses in between some of the keying were larger, indicating separate letters as opposed to one. Long, pause, short, pause, short, long. T, E, and A.

Still thoroughly confused, Sam took another look around the lab, leaning back against the table Ed sat on. "Tea?"

There was a whirl and Sam jumped when something cold touched the inside of his wrist. Frantically, he turned around and came face to face with nothing, just Ed with all four fingers on the table as if the tips had been come too heavy to for him to keep them up. And then, Ed lifted his first finger and tapped it on the tabletop, _on his own_.

Sam could do nothing but stare at the satellite arm for a full minute, watching the finger rise and fall without being hooked up with to Tom's code and tapping out _Morse code_.

"Shit," he breathed, sinking down to his knees so his eyes were even with the counter and he could watch Ed move. It took him a moment to realize the pattern had changed again, with an extra long space between the T and E. He had decoded it wrong, mixing up the letters.

"Eat?" he questioned the robot in front of him. Ed pulsed the letters again, E, A, T, and then all fingers stilled and rested unmoving on the table. Frowning, Sam looked at his watch and noticed almost an hour had transpired since his lunch alarm had gone off. He switched his gaze from his watch to Ed, back to the watch, and then Ed again.

"Right, I'll go eat." Sam slowly walked backwards towards the door.

"Hey, watch where you're going there Sam," he jumped and noticed he almost had walked backwards into Tom, whom he guessed was just coming back from his own lunch break.

"Sorry," he said sheepishly. He bent down to rifle through his bag by the door and pulled out his pack lunch. "Just going to go eat lunch." Sam slipped past Tom and quickly walked to the elevator without looking back.

He was going insane, that had to be it. Ed's tapping was simply something his mind made up, All Spark induced or pure human, to make him eat lunch like he had promised himself earlier that day. Nothing else. There was no way Ed could have moved any way, he was hooked up to a battery for power and Sam had had the appliance switched off while he was working. There was nothing that could have powered Ed to move like that, and where would have the satellite learned about Morse code? No, it was just a mind trick to get him to eat.

Once on the fourth floor, Sam collapsed in to the sofa and took out his sandwich, tuning into to the credits of a random soap scrolling on the TV screen. He located the remote control on the cushion next to him and flipped the channels until he landed on a game show, something like Mastermind but with words.

He took his time eating, slowly making his way through the sandwich and actually cutting his apple into pieces to eat instead of just simply biting into it. He put on of the granola bars in his pocket, to eat as a snack later when he got hungry, but the other he picked apart into slow pieces to pop into his mouth piece by piece.

The Air Force was pretty lenient as a boss, as long as he and Tom made progress at a reasonable pace they could care less how they spent their time. Sam still tried to keep his lunch breaks to about thirty minutes, but today he stretched it out till a full hour.

He did not know whether to be happy or pleased that Ed was, what? Alive? If he was not then it meant Sam was suffering from delusions of some sort, not the most healthly of things. But if Ed was able to move on his own, what did that mean? What type of programming was Tom coming up with? Or rather, was Ed now an autonomous robotic organism, an Earth-based Cybertronian? And how did that happen?

The brunette shuddered at a thought and then pushed it to the bottom of his mind. The All Spark gifted him with a crazy amount of knowledge, but that was it. Ratchet would have told him otherwise, he was sure. And nothing had happened for six years! Sam shook himself as he stood, tossing his trash as he exited the rec room and made his way back to the lab.

Sam paused in the doorway. Ed had not moved and Sam let out a breath he had not realized he was holding. Still, he avoided the arm and instead made his way to another part of the satellite he was working on, Daphne who would be in charge of communications. She did not have any parts that would move other than a variety of antennae; something Sam found very calming. There was a lot to keep his mind occupied as she was still in the early stages of construction.

"Hey Sam, wanna give it another whirl before we head home tonight?" Sam jerked his head up to look at Tom and them looked over at Ed. "Sure," he said after a moment. He hoped Tom did not pick up on his hesitancy. The other man pushed back his hair and met Sam over at Ed's table.

"Finish with him before lunch?" Tom asked while he plugged in cables.

"Huh?"

"You've been with Daphne since you left for lunch. Sorry I don't work as fast as you."

"No, I just needed a break from him and switched projects." Sam shrugged and Tom mimicked it.

"I understand, though I usually play a game of solitaire or something else when I need a break."

Sam sent him a smile, "Well, I don't sit in front of a computer all day with games on it."

"Keeps me from going crazy," Sam sent Tom a suspicious look, but he was looking at the schematics on his netbook and seemed unaware of Sam's response. He snagged the practice box from the end of the table and set it in front of Ed. Sam half expected the robot to move, but was pretty sure he was just imagining things as Ed's second finger brushed against his hand.

"Right," Tom rubbed his hands together, "Let's see if this works. Come on Ed!"

Ed's hand went through a series of motions to test mobility and then the second finger extended to unscrew the box. The tiny piece of metal came out, and then was sucked into the finger's hollow space.

"Yes!" Tom cheered and he shared a high five with Sam above the robot still working on the other screws. Sam was a little less enthusiastic.

"Sweet man, I thought I was going to have to stay late tonight to work on him," Sam gripped the edge of the table and leaned on his hands, looking at Ed. "Glad that's not going to happen."

"Yep, now if you'll excuse me Sam, I've got a date to get ready for."

"On a Tuesday, Tom?"

Tom shrugged, "It was the soonest she was free."

"Okay, buddy. Tell me all about her tomorrow."

"What, aren't you leaving too?"

"Nah, I wanna finish up something on Daphne first, so I'll be at least another thirty minutes. But you, get out here and take a shower. Lord knows you need one."

"Hey!" Tom called over his shoulder as he made his way over to the door.

Sam chuckled, "Have a good time Tom. See you tomorrow," his partner gave a wave and then was out the door. He kept his eyes on it for a moment, and then grabbed Tom's chair and pulled it in front of Ed.

The robot did not move. Sam sat there, arms crossed and staring. The All Spark of his mind was almost too calm about this who thing, but at least it was calm enough to let him get back home to Bee when he was ready to.

"So," Sam began after the staring contest had been going on for a good ten minutes. "What's going on here Ed?"

The machine gave a couple jerky movements and then all four fingers once again found the tabletop and the first one began tapping against it again. Long, short, long, short.

There was a hiss at the lab door opened and Sam spun around in his chair. "Forget something Tom?"

The words died on his tongue as he saw framed in the doorway not Tom, but rather two Air Force men flanking someone in a dark business suit.

"Mr. Enig? Or rather, Mr. Witwicky?" Sam jumped to his feet; no one should know that had once been his name and even those who did never used it.

The man not in uniform flashed a badge, "You're coming with me."

* * *

**Songs: **"Singin' in the Rain" from the movie of the same title

**A/N:** Oh my, is this a plot showing up?

Hopefully this answers some questions that popped up in the first chapter, such as Sam's nifty new last name. Bonus points for those who know why Sam's phone is called Barbie by the way.

I would totally freak if my work came alive. Not that I construct robots, I just write for a blog, but if my computer grew legs and starting telling to me eat I would most likely take my sword and smash it. Poor Edward. (two guesses as to where satellite Ed got his name from ^_~)

Sorry it took so long to get this up, but finally here is chapter two. Donations for chapter three are accepted, I take chocolate, roses, Border's gift cards, and reviews.


	3. Silence

A Captured Beast within a Human Skin

**Chapter 3 - Silence****  
**

_By Uniasus_

* * *

Sam had no idea where he was. Back at the lab he had put up a fight, and to be honest he could have put up a better one but he had desperately tried getting at his phone to call Bumblebee. He knew, despite all the self-defense classes he took, that there was no way he was capable of taking out three guys, not that the guy in the suit joined in but Sam was pretty confident he could fight. Getting a message to Bumblebee would have been the only way to let the Autobot know what was going on, that him not coming home was not something to do with the All Spark (was it?) and rather with a forcible removal from the lab.

He knew he was no longer in the Silicon Valley, the cold and sterile room he woke up in spoke of an actual base and not just some hidden location in California's urban areas. Quickly he sat up and checked his pockets for his phone. He really did not expect them, who ever 'them' was, to leave Barbie in his possession and he was not disappointed. There was nothing in his pockets, not even the granola bar he had place in it earlier.

His watch was gone too. Probably taken just in case it was possible for Bee to track him with it. Which it was not, but secret government agents tended to be paranoid if his past experience with Sector 7 counted for anything.

Sam looked around his room, cell, and did not notice anything of use or interest. Plain gray walls, rough cement floor, stiff cot with itchy blankets and a flat pillow. He turned his attention to the ceiling and found what he was looking for; a small camera in the corner with a red light on indicating it was watching him. He snickered as that Geico commercial song entered his head.

"Hey!" he waved at the camera, "Can I get something to drink or eat?" He would have asked about where a bathroom was, but the small pan underneath the camera announced that if he asked about that he would not get an answer. He did not get one about the food either.

His stomach was making pitiful noises, and not seeing anything else to do he collapsed back onto his cot and looked up at the ceiling, planning on spending some time seeing shakes in ceiling cracks. That plan kinda fell through when he realized that the ceiling, like the floor, was made out of cement and thus lacked any cracks begging to be turned into fantastic creatures. Sam sighed and closed his eyes, trying to not to think of anything.

Or maybe not. He never did inquire about that vacation. Sam opened his eye a crack and peered at the camera. Guess he was taking a forced one now. He almost wished he and Bee where with the Autobots and he was participating in an experiment on circadian rhythms for Wheeljack. At least then he knew being stuck in a room would eventually have an end.

Suddenly, the lights clicked off and Sam jumped up in his cot thinking it was some type of electric failure. But after several minutes of just staring into the dark he came to the conclusion that it must be night now and the lights had been flipped off to permit sleep. Sam lay back down, bringing the up the blanket to settle around his shoulders. He looked out at the red light of the camera before drifting off to sleep.

His waking was not pleasant; it included the lights begin turned on full blast and while his eyes were still recovering being pulled to his feet and forced to move.

"Hey, hey!" he protested once he was half way coherent and able to figure out he was being led down one monotone hallway after another by someone in Air Force attire, "Where are you taking me?"

His answer was practically being thrown into a locker room. At first he just blinked stupidly, taking in the empty room. Really, should not there be other people here?

"You have fifteen minutes," a voice growled from outside the door.

Fifteen minutes to do what? Sam asked himself before he noticed an extra set of clothes and some bottles next to the nearest shower. Well, at least they allowed their prisoners to be hygienic. But first things first, he did not realize how badly he had to pee till now.

He gratefully peeled off his clothes, feeling like they had been slept in not one, but two nights. Man, he smelled like it too. Sam wrinkled his nose and then stepped under the stream of water. Ah, it felt good to wash away the sweat and corn chip smell even if the water did not get any warmer than lukewarm, a product of either the military trying to save money or the machoness of the men enlisted here.

Sam just spent some time letting the water run in rivulets down his back and chest before he remembered he had a time limit. Not knowing how much time he had already used, he quickly grabbed the bottle labeled shampoo, squirted a dollop in his hand and scrubbed it in his hair.

As it was, he was just a little short on time. The air force man barged in and grabbed him by the upper am before he had even had the chance to zip up his jeans. He had refused to wear those olive gray pants and was quite certain they would not fit well, but the clean shirt was nice. Sam grabbed it as he was pulled out of the locker room.

"Can't we stop for a moment so I can put my shirt on?" he asked his escort. The airman did not respond and so Sam had to try to put in on one handed. He had gotten it over his head and halfway through his arm before he was led through another door and roughly forced into a chair. Sam shot the military man a glare and then proceeded to finish getting dressed with a grumble about harassing civilians.

"Nice to finally meet you, Mr. Witwicky."

Sam looked up to see a business suit dressed man leaning against a desk in front of him. He was shorter than the figure Sam remembered approaching him at the lab, but just as fit. Sam glared at him.

"My name isn't Witwicky."

"But it used to be, yes?"

Sam just narrowed his eyes. "Who are you?"

The man gave a dismal gesture with his hand, "That doesn't really matter, all you need to know is that I'm from a section of the FBI."

"The FBI?'

"You didn't really think that after learning that the All Spark had an effect on you that the US government would just let you go? There was more than one reason the Air Force offered you a job." He gave a sickly sweet smile and Sam decided to name him Candy.

"Actually, I did. Considering there's a treaty in place with the Autobots and you helped me hide," Sam wondered how much Candy knew. Just what Sector Seven files said or more. No, it had to be more if they not only knew his old identity, but also his current one.

Sam leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. "Look Candy Cane," the agent's left eye gave a twitch and Sam allowed a small smile to bloom on his face. "I have no idea what you could possible gain from keeping me here. Yes, the All Spark played with my brain. But _all_ it did was turn me into a smart person. That being said, I think you should let me go back to work."

He made to stand up and leave the room, to go where he had no idea, but a heavy hand on his shoulder pushed him back in the seat. Sam shot a look at the solider behind him, the same one who had brought him in, and then returned his attention to the FBI agent in front of the room with a roll of his shoulder.

The agent seemed, smug for some reason. "It doesn't give you bouts of insomnia?"

"Insomnia?" Sam repeated innocently.

"Yes, lack of sleep."

"Nope, none at all." When in doubt, deny, deny, deny. And when that does not work, blame someone else.

"Then would you care to explain why you spend about a night a week at your lab and not your home?" Candy walked forward and started to circle Sam's chair.

Shit. Shit, shit, shit! Sam thought, refusing to follow Candy's rotation around him. They had cameras in the lab! Or an informant. It was probably Airman First Class Stacy. Working as a stripper at night must not bring in the needed money.

He tried to play it cool, he really did, but it was hard to make his body relax and his voice sounded a littler higher than normal to his ears. "I'm a workaholic, any one you ask will tell you that."

"Hmm." Candy stopped in front of him and stared at Sam who stared right back, defiant to his every eyelash. The agent nodded to someone behind Sam. There was the sound of squeaky wheels and then a television set on a cart appeared in front of him pushed by a woman in a business suit. She was obviously an FBI agent too.

"What are we watching? Your favorite Barbie movie? I heard the sparkles are really well done," Sam was surprised he did not get a hand slap for that comment. Instead, Candy grabbed the remote and the lady agent turned on the DVD player.

Sam watched the male agent move through the DVD menu, each chapter labeled by a number but there was not any image to indicate what the movie was. Finally, Candy selected the chapter labeled "1300".

What started playing on the screen was a security video. It was black and white, and a rather high bird's eye view. But the quality was good and it did not take Sam long to recognize the lab shown was his own, or that he was the only in it at the moment.

It almost made his heart stop when he realized that what he was watching was himself discovering that Ed was communicating in Morse code.

"Let's turn the volume up, shall we?" Candy pointed the clicker towards the screen and the volume went from zero to 42. It had to be a really good camera they had installed because it picked up every one of Ed's finger taps against the table. Sam paled. They watched the scene play out and then Candy turned to face Sam with a triumphant grin.

"Care to explain that?"

Sam gulped. "Your guess is as good as mine, I have no idea how that happened."

"I think you're lying, Mr. Witwicky."

"See, that's where we run into a bit of a problem. Because what ever happened to Ed, I didn't do it. I swear."

"I don't care how many times you deny it," Candy gave another nod to the female agent who pulled the cart back into the corner it came from, "I know you did it and I'm asking you, politely for the moment, to do it again."

The female returned, now named Helen Keller in Sam's mind since it looked like she wasn't going to speak, pushing in front of her a handheld trolley that looked like it belonged in the supply building of Home Depot. Sam could get over the neon orange color eventually; it was the shape of a body underneath the sheet covering that freaked him out.

"Mr. Witwicky, I give you Lilith." Candy pulled the sheet off of the trolley and reveled not a dead body to Sam's relief, but a robot.

It was ceramic white, all the joints very simple ball and socket ones but for the fingers which were hinges. It lacked toes, and a face. In its stead was a dark LCD screen that put Sam on edge because it was creepy. The robot was also disproportioned, the elbow and knee joints were abnormally large and the legs and arms were longer than those of an average human. It was the same width of a slender, yet naturally muscular woman.

Sam stared at it, and then turned his attention to Candy who was standing on the opposite side of Lilith from Helen. He returned his glance to the robot and then again switched his focus to Candy to raise an eyebrow.

"What do you want me to do, say hello?"

"No," Candy snarled. "I want you to animate her like you did that robot in your lab."

"But I _can't,_" Sam began before the agent cut him off with a hand slash across his chest.

"Don't tell me you can't Witwicky, because that tape says otherwise," he pointed his finger at the TV behind Sam's head, "And if you can't wake her up we don't have a use for you, understand!?"

Sam had to swallow a couple of times before he was capable of speech, but by that time Helen and the airman had already left the room. Candy only paused long enough to leave a parting message. "If she doesn't move by tomorrow morning, you'll be getting a bullet in your head."

The door solidly closed behind him and Sam heard it lock with a heavy click. It took him a lot longer to get over his dry mouth this time.

"Fuck," he whispered, collapsing his head into his hands and resting his elbows on his knees. "Fuck!" Sam launched himself out of the chair, picked it up, and threw it into the wall. There was a sound of splintering wood; a front leg broke off.

Sam spent a moment staring at the pile of wood, breathing heavily, and then turned away from it in shame. Throwing it had not helped matters; in fact it worsened them because he no longer had a chair to sit in. The cement floor looked cold and uninviting.

So instead he sat on the only other suitable thing to set his butt on, the desk Candy had been leaning on earlier. He hopped up and turned so his back was facing Lilith before crossing his legs and staring at the wall in front of him.

They thought it was his doing Ed had moved. Well, technically Sam was the one who had built him from scratch and enabled him to move, but Ed moving on his own was something that was not planned. Nor something Sam thought possible. And yet he had seen it, not a day—how long had he been here anyway? And where was here?

He cast the questions aside, knowing fully well that he was not going to get an answer unless he cooperated and even then it was iffy. Which brought his mind to the other little problem he had, he _could not_ make robots move. What ever happened to Ed, he had know clue but really wanted to find out. Sam was positive though it was not him who caused it. Sure, the All Spark had that type of power, but he only had information from the Cube and not the abilities. Plus, you would think after six years something would have happened, if it were possible. But it had not so it was not.

Then what had caused Ed to move? Sam ran through the day in his head, trying to pick up anything that might have happened. Tom and him had plugged in commands to Ed that evening, but Ed had moved before that during lunch. And before even that, his mind whispered.

Monday night, when Sam and Tom had left the office Ed had waved good-bye. Sam had figured it was just a trick of lighting and an achy brain, but if it was not? The only similar thing between the two days was plugging Ed into Tom's netbook, but they had done that before and nothing happened. Maybe Tom had a faulty piece of coding he developed over the weekend that had gotten into Ed's processor.

But Ed did not have a processor; that was why he had to be hooked up to the netbook. Ed was part of a whole, not his own robot. The main processor for the satellite, Angela, was still in the works, being tinkered on here and there. She was built, sure, but they could not put in all the software until the programming for all the individual parts worked. The was no physical way Ed could have moved on his own, let alone tap out Morse code, by himself! He had to have had outside help. And as much as Sam hated to admit it, the only thing that made sense was him. The All Spark messed up human.

He groaned, really wishing Bumblebee was there so Sam could talk to someone. Maybe have Bee send data to Ratchet to have the medic tell him this was all made up and some crazy delusion in his head. Because if this was not and he actually had the ability to create sparklings or what ever they were called…

Sam shook his head, not wanting to go down that path. There would be no hiding, no living the semi-normal life he had now. There would be giant robots asking him for kids and government agencies trying to get a hold of him.

He let out a dry laugh. Government agencies had already gotten a hold of him and were now trying to get him to obey their wishes. Sam wondered if they would follow through on the threat to kill him if he did not obey. If Candy did put a bullet in his head and the Autobots found out things could go to hell, but if there was not any proof…

Politics had never been his strong point but even he could see things would not be pretty.

Be that as it may, if he did not cooperate life here at whatever base he was kept at would not be fun. Sam was not a masochist; he would prefer to avoid pain if he could. In order to do that, he had to make Lilith move. And he had no idea how, even if he was slowly accepting that maybe he could. Only by default.

With a defeated sigh he pushed himself off the desk and walked around it to face Lilith. He turned her around so she was facing the desk and then once again scrambled on top of it to stare into her not-face.

Right, so what did he do to get Ed to move? Worked on him and talked to him; seeing as how Lilith was already done Sam went with the latter.

"Hello Lilith. You know, it would be pretty silly if you came alive and only to say you are a guy. That's very likely, all the sentient robots I know are male. Though Bee's told me they don't actually have genders like we do and they just chose male voices because males seem to be the gender with the most power here on Earth. But who knows, being made on Earth you might decide you have a gender." Sam shrugged and cocked his head to gaze up and down the robot in front of him.

"You're certainly built like a female. Very thin without those broad Terminator shoulders." Lilith did not say anything and Sam sighed, running a hand through his hair and turning his head to the side.

"This is going to take longer than I thought," he muttered to himself. Lilith's black face unnerved him, and he wondered if talking to her really was the way to go. But he did not have any other clue. Then there was the issue of what do you talk to a non-responsive robot about. He always talked to Ed about the work he was doing, but here it was as if he was talking to a corpse and waiting for it to turn into a zombie.

Everything he thought about telling her he vetoed because he was sure Candy and Helen had the room bugged and he did not want to give them any information they might not have. So no talking about his family, no talking about the Autobots. That left work, since Sam was pretty sure they knew all about that any way.

Knowing what to say did not make it any less awkward.

"So, did you know I'm an engineer? Yup, I'm working on building a self-repairing satellite right now." God, he felt so silly. "Been working there for two years now, ever since I finished my PHD. It's a pretty cool project, it'll reduce long term costs for the military and private companies that relay on satellites like phone and cable companies."

The black face kept on staring at him and after a while he could not take it. So he shifted his gaze to her chest while he talked. Once he remember that Lilith was potentially, most likely, a girl robot he cast his gaze somewhere else and concentrated on her right hand.

At first he had to struggle with what to say, what was worth saying and safe to do so. But as the hours fell away he delved into the little details just to have something to talk about. If Sam did not talk, the room filled up with silence and he would get the creepy feeling that Lilith was actually _listening to what he said_. Talking distracted him from the creepy feeling.

His only indication of time was an airman coming in to bring him food. All of it was on par with high school cafeteria eats, but he was starving so breakfast and lunch disappeared while just shy of dinner was eaten a little more slowly. Eventually his eyelids became tired, but he had to talk to Lilith because that the only thing he could think of that had caused Ed to move and if Lilith did not move herself the consequences would not be fun.

He laid out on the desk, eyes closed but he continued to ramble on; this time about how his old bedroom as a kid had been set up. A private bathroom, industrial shelves, posters galore. Sam did not want to fall asleep, could not allow himself to, but he drifted off any way.

* * *

Sam did not come home Tuesday night, but Bumblebee had expected that. After all, the human had said the All Spark was acting up and when that happened he usually stayed up working at the lab and it was just easier on him to sleep on one of the beds the Air Force provided.

If Bee was allowed to drive Sam to and from work, he would make sure Sam slept in his own bed All Spark be slagged. But he was not allowed to because the Air Force wanted to keep the lab base secret and the Autobot decided not to push the issue. The military would protect Sam, of that he was sure. And if push came to shove, the yellow Camaro could easily find the base and download all of it's secrets.

When Sam failed to come home Wednesday night Bumblebee got nervous. Usually Sam let him know if he was going to spend the night in the lab. He had not on Tuesday and Bee figured it was because Sam had let him know the night before and just forgot the customary text.

But to not come home two nights in a row…

His central processor said the most likely thing that happened was that the challenge was larger than Sam had expected and required a second stay at the lab and had not contacted Bee because his mind was either not thinking about that or his phone had died and he had no way of contacting him. It would not be the first time Sam had been forced by the All Spark to spend more than one night away from home, but all those occurrences had been early on in with the Air Force when Sam was still learning to reign his mind in as much as possible around such advanced (for a human) equipment. This would be the first time however that Sam had not given him fair warning.

The time frame Sam was usually dropped off during came and went on Thursday as well and Bumblebee's logic circuits said there was no way the young human would stay there three nights. It had never happened, and even when he was struggling with an All Spark riddled mind in college he had never lost himself for more than two days. At that point his body over-rode his mind and Bee would be forced to take care of him while his body recovered with lots of sleep and food. In such instances, Sam would end up sleeping inside of the Camaro because that was as far as his body could go before collapsing. Bee had always driven to the apartment he rented but could never wake the human and his hologram was not capable of carrying Sam up to a real bed.

So when Thursday resulted in no Sam demanding sleep and food, nor any communications from his charge Bumblebee knew something had happened. He tried calling Sam's phone, but all he got was a message about the number no longer being in service. Bee's protective protocols went on high alert and he did the first thing that his HUD suggested. He called Optimus Prime.

* * *

**A/N:** Hoohoo! What's this? A new chapter? Oh my goodness! Don't you just love a snarky Sam?

Poor Sam, stuck in on of those catch-22 positions with a creepy looking robot. I keep trying to draw Lilith, but keep failing. T.T I'm just not meant to draw giant robots. Or human size ones as the case may be. Someday though, someday, once I finally get around to reading that 'How to Draw Robots' book I snagged from a Borders bargain bin. I've been too busy reading about cat wizards . That and I bought one of those really detailed image/design coloring books and simply coloring one pages has already taken so much time! *wiggles* I love it!

I do have long periods at work where I should be doing something other than play Farmville and I'm going to try to get some writing done on a regular basis. But fair warning, as of yet this still is on a third burner, though little one-shots may escape, especially in my Doll verse or an expansion of Zirconium since many have asked for it. If you want something in particular for Dolls, check out the poll I have on my profile.

So, in the mean time I encourage you to enjoy the up coming summer (and I hope you guys don't have the heavy storms I've been getting. They've woken me up two days in a row now!). Go to a steam punk convention or something. Or the midnight showing of Iron Man ^_~ Looking forward to that one myself.


	4. Welcome Child

**Disclaimer**: Transformers are happily owned by Dreamworks and Hasbro, while sadly not owned by me.

* * *

A Captured Beast Within a Human Skin

**Chapter 4 – Welcome Child**

_By Uniasus_**

* * *

**

Sam woke in a similar manner to the previous morning, rough. He did not recall the lights switching off and in fact doubted they had. The only indication that he had even fallen asleep was a violent shaking and seeing a face between him and Lilith. He bolted up right, just missed giving the airman a bloody nose, and rolled off the desk.

"Mother fu-" he trailed off, looking up to see not amused military faces and feeling the result of an uncomfortable bed sneaking up on him. First thing on the agenda once he got out of here, a long day at a secluded spa.

Slowly he stood up, rolling his shoulders to get out the kinks. His gaze focused on Candy, and Helen standing silently behind him. Flicking his eyes toward Lilith he saw no evidence of her moving and swore quietly to himself. Each of the airman was armed and Sam found himself counting his last breaths.

"We've decided we might have given you too big of a task to start out with."

Sam just blinked at him, not quite understanding. Helen stepped forward and reveled something that had been hiding behind Candy's bulk, a black case that looked like it would fit a widescreen laptop. She placed it on the desk between them with a thud, opened the clasps with a snap, and then spun it around to face him. Her face did not show a single twitch and Sam hoped he never went up against her in a poker game.

Inside the case was a tiny silver/white thing. There was a large flattened oval that seemed to be made out of the same stuff as Lilith, complete with a dark LCD screen centered on top. Extending from its rear were five slender sliver appendages that tapered to a point. The entire thing could fit in his palm.

Sam lifted his gaze to the agents in front of him.

"You have a day to make this one move," Candy said, and then him, Helen, and their two airmen guards left to leave him staring at the robot in the case.

Well, at least he was not dead. He wondered what made the agents change their mind, but could only imagine that something came up with Ed that changed their opinion. Sam supposed he should be relieved that he had another day of breathing ahead of him, but he was as lost as the day before. How in the world was he supposed to get this thing to move? Once again he was limited to talk.

Sam had not touched Lilith the day before, she still gave him the creeps and continued to do so staring at him from the other side of the desk. But this little guy was different. He trailed his index finger from the start of a cable to its tip, surprised at how smooth it was since it seemed to be made up of multiple components to enable it to bend in every which way. The coldness of the metal surprised him, as did the feeling of the white band around the screen. It had to be some type of metal; this was a robot after all! But it felt more like the ceramics the color reminded Sam off. He avoided the screen entirely, strangely conscious of the thought to not leave a fingerprint.

Suddenly, he missed Bumblebee even more than he already did. Hopefully by now, no, Sam was pretty sure by now, the Autobot had figured out something had happened to him. Were by now looking for him. Since Egypt, Been and him had rarely spent more than a day apart. They were close friends, roommates, family, and the dead metal underneath his finger did not feel warm with life like the Camaro's.

He jerked his finger back and placed it in his mouth to suck while he glared sulkily at the case's interior. Something had zapped him, but it could not have been the tiny bot since it was still unmoving. (Sam refused to acknowledge the part of him that was giving into the idea of him being able to grant sparks or what ever it was called). Grabbing the case and turning it around to find the culprit, Sam only found a container of yogurt and a plastic spoon. Huh, he had missed that being placed down. Now he really did not want to play poker with Helen, she probably was a good cheat.

Grabbing his breakfast, Sam leaned against the wall and looked at the two robots in front of him. Lilith stared stoically back and the other one just sat there in its comfy little box.

Done eating, Sam placed his trash on the edge of the desk, delicately picked up the room's newest edition, and dropped it into his left hand. He had been wrong about its size, it was actually just slightly larger than his palm. The last quarter of the cables hung down between his fingers.

"Hello there Spidey. I'm Sam," the tiny thing did not move, not that he really expected it to. "That's Lilith," he twisted his wrist so his fingers pointed toward his chest to allow Spidey a view of the humanoid robot. "We're all stuck here."

No response again, and Sam could not think of anything else to say. He had talked a lot to Lilith yesterday, and it seemed odd to repeat everything for Spidey when Lilith was still in the room and would have to hear his monologue yet again. So he contented himself with the man-made little bot, making comments, questions, and speculations out loud to the room.

Sam spent quite a bit of time just wondering what Spidey could be used for. Lilith was kind of obvious, some type of labor. Or since this _was_ the military, most likely a solider that could not be easily killed. She did not have any visible weapons, but he knew from living with Cybertronians nothing was as it seemed. It was quite possible her left knee contained a rocket.

Spidey though was tiny, maybe he was meant to cross enemy lines and cause panic. Cut phone wires, ruin food, run the engines of vehicles, small little things that could hamper the adversary's operations and allow the US to gain the upper hand. Or maybe those people advocating a green America had built him and Spidey's job was to explore caves for mineral deposits. Sam really had no clue; he was still unaware of if he was being forcibly put to work for Candy's FBI sector or the Air Force. He was pretty sure that while their agendas might cross at some point, they were not all together the same.

There was a knock on the door, but Sam did not know why they bothered because the door was opened before he even got a chance to respond to the noise. A female solider came in, carrying a lunch tray. She placed it on the desk, moving Spidey's case out of the way, and grabbed the trash from Sam's breakfast before she was gone again. It had taken an entire five blinks time. He wondered if the soldiers had been told to have as little contact with him as possible.

Sam switched Spidey to his other hand to check the time, it was lunch already? only to remember his watch was mostly likely with his phone who knew where. He vaguely wondered if they became a prize in a game involving gambling.

"Lunch time!" he sang, placing his right hand next to the case and tipping it to slid Spidey off.

It did not work.

Sam felt pressure in the valleys of his knuckles, as if the spider bot was getting a grip and refused to be deposited back in the black case. He frowned, shook his hand, and the robot slid gently off on to the foam lined case.

Still shooting questioning looks toward Spidey, Sam drew the lunch tray toward him and started eating. The mac and cheese was not the best in the world and he purposely avoided the limp broccoli. He would look up from time to time, turning first to Lilith who was still directly in front of him and staring (he really should move her), to Spidey. He was not to sure, but between his first and second look he though the small machine had moved closer to the box's edge, but when nothing else changed he filled that potential information in the same place he stored Ed's first wave in dismissal.

Yeah, and look how that ended up. Ed's alive! Sam snapped his head towards Spidey, but the little robot showed no evidence of moving and so Sam decided that just because he thought his was seeing things one time only to have them come true, did not mean the same thing for every time else he thought he saw something move. It was possible for his minds to play tricks on him, it deprived him of sleep often enough.

Putting down his spork, most likely an effect of military budget cuts, Sam once again picked up Spidey. Grabbing a tip of an appendage Sam moved it up and down, making it look like a wave. He felt a wiggle in between his thumb and forefinger and let go. The waving continued, with higher amplitude and velocity.

Sam dropped the robot with a cry of surprise, jumping backwards slightly. Spidey hit the cement with a small clatter, bounced, and was then still. Sam warily watched him for a couple minutes, but after seeing no movement he poked it with his shoe. Nothing. He bent down to pick Spidey up, but once the little robot was at about knee height it spasmed.

With a yelp Sam flung the thing in the air with an unconscious wrist flick. Spidey soared up into the air, once again still, and then crashed into the desk top.

"Are you watching this Lilith?" Sam asked the other robot, because truthfully, who else was there to talk to? "I think Spidey," his voiced lowered to a conspirator's whisper, "_moved_".

She gave no inclination she had heard him and Sam half debated about shooting her a 'don't-you-dare-ignore-me' look until he reminded himself that was all she _could_ do.

Kneeling, Sam set himself up so his eyes were on level with the desk offering him a good, close up view of Spidey.

"Hey Spidey, can you hear me?" No answer, so Sam poked a cable. He quickly withdrew his finger when it moved.

"So you can move," Sam expected some type of answer from the little mechanism. Ed had taped out Morse code, the least Spidey could do was wiggle a little. But nothing happened aside from Sam getting frustrated; first at the spider-bot because he was not moving and then at himself because he actually thought the robot had moved.

He sighed, his head hitting the desk with a soft thump that echoed throughout the room. "I'm going crazy," he rolled his head a little on the metal. "Too much All Spark, my brain is all mush." He lifted his head to place his arms underneath his cheek to look at Lilith, she was becoming less and less creepy as time went on.

"Don't you agree?" And that cemented it, only crazy people talked to things that could not talk back. But he had been doing that for years, had he been crazy for a long time then?

After not getting a response from the humanoid, Sam returned his attention to Spidey. And watched. And waited. And watched. And waited. He twisted his arm to get a look at his watch, only once again reminded that he no longer had. Seriously, how was he supposed to tell how much time had passed if he did not have a watch? Maybe he should ask the solider that would bring him his dinner if he could get a clock or something installed.

As it was, Sam estimated a good half hour had been spent in silence just staring at the small robot. His knees where protesting their position and not for the first time Sam regretted throwing that chair into the wall. He should have just kicked it. Maybe he would ask for a chair to match that clock.

As it was, his frustration was still building and the silence was getting stifling. So he poked Spidey, a good long one. Complete with sound effects. "Poke."

The middle cable curled underneath itself and Sam immediately pulled his finger away. The cable stay curled, poised on the tip for a second before collapsing.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking Lilith?" She did not respond, not like he had expected her to anyway. He might have addressed the question to her but his eyes never left the smaller feat of engineering.

Sam shifted his position so he was now no longer on his knees but more in a squatting position on the balls of his feet. Previous All Spark creations had had a nasty motto of 'shoot first' and he wanted to prepare himself to duck if the situation came down to it. He lifted his right hand to his face, looked at it like it had just turned into a rubber chicken, and then placed him finger on Spidey again without removing it.

It took a moment, but eventually the little thing started twitching. Sam did his best to just let his finger rest on the largest part of Spidey and not force him to stay flat. A series of more twitches resulted in the little bot curling his cables and then using them as legs to push himself up.

Oh wow. He _could_ make things come alive.

And it wiggled a whole lot more then Jello.

He watched in a kind of wonder induced stupor and then quickly took his finger off of Spidey to flip his hand over and place in front of the robot spider as a platform for him to walk on to. Spidey managed one step and then collapsed with a high pitched beep.

"No! Spidey! Are you alright?" Using his left hand, Sam placed the bot in his other waiting palm.

The moment of stillness was shorter this time. Quickly Spidey got his legs up underneath him, spreading out on Sam palm so his head was even with the curved 'knees' of the cables. Spidey did not do much else; he just stood there and…fidgeted from time to time. It confused Sam. Ed had shown intelligence and understanding of human speech.

There was one of those quick I'm-only-knocking-so-you-know-I'm-about-to-barge-in knocks and Sam dropped the spider in his hands. Spidey bounced, again, (something to look into later) and gave a halfhearted attempt to stand up again before he off-lined. Dinner time already?

Thankfully, the solider who came in did not seem to notice the little robot move. Spidey was still by the time he was at the desk to swap the lunch tray for the dinner one. Without a word, the airman turned a made his way out of the room again. Remembering his list, Sam called out to the retreating back.

"Can I get another chair and a clock?" The door closed and locked, leaving Sam to wonder if his request had even been heard.

He cast a quick look at the dinner tray (was that supposed to be chicken?) and passed it up for Spidey. Sam picked up the little robot and replaced him in his hand.

"Sorry little buddy, I didn't want them to see you. Are you okay?" Spidey slowly once again gathered his legs underneath him, a little more active this time. He applied pressure with his cable tips into Sam's palm as if testing the surface, but did not do much else.

"I wanna try something. Just bear with me here Spidey." Sam picked up the robot by his head, watched the legs squirm for a moment, and then set him down on the other side of the desk. Trail and error test in progresses, his All Spark riddled brain already began thinking of other tests to perform if this hypothesis did not work.

Not ten seconds later, Spidey was down for the count and it was pretty much solid fact. The robot came alive only when touching Sam. He lifted his hand to his face and turned it this way and that to examine it and then moved it out of his line of sight to look at Lilith's simple clamp that functioned as a hand.

Before he could lose his nerve, Sam took the hand closest to him and waited. After a minute, nothing happened and Sam removed his hand from Lilith's limp grip. Maybe length of contact was important? This was after all, the first time he had touched her while he had been poking and prodding Spidey all day.

Feeling silly, Sam reached across the desk to scoop up Spidey with one hand and returned his other to Lilith's grasp. He sat there for awhile, shifting when he felt his left calf start to go numb, but eventually had to readjust when his stomach growled. He looked down towards it.

"Guess I better eat, huh?" he asked the rooms other occupants. Lilith did not answer, but Spidey gave what could pass for nod.

Letting go of Lilith's hand, Sam shifted Spidey from his palm to his shoulder, and pulled the tray closer. In silence, he cut up the chicken and poked the straw through a milk carton that reminded him of elementary school. He picked up his spork, and then hesitated. He glanced at Lilith's hand again and transferred his fork to left hand so he could hold Lilith's while he ate. Sam was very glad on one was near by to take pictures.

He sat quietly while he ate, switching his attention between his dinner, Lilith's hand, and what he could see of Spidey where he stood on Sam's shoulder. The little robot was slowly growing more active, progressing from just standing on his shoulder to moving around and exploring.

"Spidey!" Sam laughed as the bot scrambled up the side of his head to perch on top of his hair. He put his fork down, he could only stomach so much of the 'chicken' anyway, and reached up to detangle Spidey. The mechanical spider avoided his hand and jumped from head to his other shoulder before scrambling down his arm, making a variety of beeping noises as he traveled. Sam made to pull his hand out of Lilith's to bring Spidey close to his chest.

It did not budge.

So he tried again.

And when it still did not move, he looked at her hand and found that the clamp that formed it had closed, essentially trapping his hand within hers. Well, that was a surprise.

Spidey had given a series of startled beeps when he had tried to jerk his hand out of Lilith's grasp that quickly gave way to questioning ones when he stopped. Sam ignored him.

"Lilith?" He whispered, hunching his shoulders and leaning towards her. She did not move and after a moment he returned to his original position.

At this point, Spidey was not taking kindly to being ignored and bounced on his feet and then scampered around his elbow with a series of high pitched beeps. Sam smiled at the five-legged spider and offered his left hand for Spidey to climb onto. He rubbed his thumb along Spidey's head and the robot leaned into the touch. The screen on his head flickered bright neon blue before going black again.

"Feeling more awake, are we?" A beep-twrip of agreement and another flash.

"What do you do? Feed off my energy or something?"

_YES_ The text appeared on Spidey's head and Sam nearly dropped him in surprise again.

Sam shifted, so that his back was towards the camera in the corner watching everything. The FBI already knew Spidey could move, they did not need to know that he could talk, er text, as well. He brought the small mech close to his mouth to whisper secretively.

"You feed off my _energy_?" he hissed.

_YES_

Well, did that not beat all.

"You serious?"

_YES_

"Wow, oh wow." What did one say to that? 'Make sure you don't take too much'?

"Spidey," he began slowly, "What would happen if you take too much of my energy?" His eyes drifted to Lilith who was still holding his hand captive.

The bot gave a series of beeps but did not give a text response.

"Do you know what would happen if you did?"

_NO_

Right, that did not make Sam feel better. The consequences could be nothing or fatal. This was starting to look like a catch-22 situation; do not aid the FBI and he gets a bullet in the head, aid them and he gets his life force sucked out of him body while giving life to machines. If push came to shove, he was thinking of taking the bullet. At least that way the government would not have whatever it was they wanted; Sam was pretty sure they were not planning anything for the public good.

Suddenly, he wanted to nothing more than sleep. Climb into the bed in his apartment, pull the covers over his head, and curl in towards the wall. That or a really tall, stiff drink. He wanted to ignore Spidey, but the beeps demanding attention made that hard to do and the cold grip on his right hand was a constant reminder of Lilith and the fact that she was currently feeding off his life energy.

He put the tray of half eaten food on the floor, curled up on his right side, arm still extended, and tried to drift off to sleep. Eyes closed tight, he did his best to not mind Spidey's soft beeps and the feel of him settling on his hip. Instead he thought of summer days spent soaking up the rays and snowball fights with he friends when he was in middle school. Simple things from a much simpler life; one he did not truthfully regret leaving but was surely safer to be a part of. Sometimes he missed it.

**

* * *

A/N:** Ahem. Been awhile, ne? So sorry. This chapter has actually been done for awhile, but I put off posting until I had more written in the story. It's truly worthy of it's name, Beast. And after finishing the Veiled Threat (yeah, finally, I know) I had to add character and rearrange motivations and do a lot of medical research. Yes, this is SF and thus some suspension of reality is excepted, but I wanted some truth to this. Let's just say Sam develops...issues. And Prime can be a prat. But I don't think I'll be covering the drama of that interaction. But you can expect to see a Veiled Threat character later on in this story, and it's most likely not who you all think it is.

Also, I updated Dolls earlier this week. We get to meet Sunny and Sides this chapter ^_^

I've had a picture of Spidey up at my dA account for ages, but for those of you who have yet to see it here you go: http:/ uniasus (dot) deviantart (dot) com / gallery / # / d2j7eog Just remember to take out the spaces around the slashes and actually use dots.

Also, to anyone reading this a month or more after this is posted: if there is no 5th chapter, please give me an aft kicking in a review or PM for that extra bit of motivation.


	5. Sky Access

A Captured Beast Within a Human Skin

_By Uniasus_

**Chapter 5 – Sky Access

* * *

**

It was a feeling of being weighed down and a soft click, followed by another a few seconds later that woke him. He felt like he had only gotten maybe four hours of sleep, but he knew that he had not gone to sleep too long after he had finished eating dinner.

Opening his eyes, he could not really tell anything apart because of the sleep induced blurriness. So Sam simply closed them again, planning to catch those few hours of sleep his body was shouting at him to get. He had almost succumbed to the blissful dark, despite the lights shining brightly in the room, when he felt something cold brush against his forehead.

The military training he had gotten in college and the responses Bumblebee had made him learn kicked in; assume an unknown situation is dangerous. And if having some stranger pet him while he was a military prisoner was not an potentially harmful, unknown situation he did not know what was.

Sam snapped his eyes open, fully awake all of a sudden, and rolled away from who ever it was had touched him. He ended up completely rolling off the desk, landed painfully on what felt like decently sized rocks and bolted to his feet with out paying the sound of crashing metal much thought.

There was no one there.

He looked around in confusion. His breakfast tray now upside down on the floor and surrounding his feet were seven more robots like Spidey.

"What the hell?" Did Spidey multiply while he slept?

A series of beeps that sounded suspiciously like 'SOS' came from his left hip and Sam was greeted by the sight of Spidey himself hanging upside, one cable curled around his belt loop while the others tried frantically to find a grip after the sudden change in planes he had underwent. Sam pulled him away from his pants, causing the beeping to increase in volume for a beat before the bot realized it was Sam who had him.

_MORN_ his head flashed, not wide enough to display the entire word.

"Good morning to you to Spidey. Where you the one who woke me?"

A beep-click indicated confusion, if the tilt of the robot's head was anything to go by, and then two happy ones followed it.

_NO_ the screen cleared itself with a flash of blue and then, _ LILI_

"Lili?" The name of the solider who had brought him breakfast, perhaps? But the touch Sam had felt was cold and had come after the door had closed.

_LILI_ Spidey texted again in agreement. The spider bot jumped from his hand before Sam could stop him and landed on the desk. It was an awful landing, causing Sam to wince, but that strange bouncing habit Spidey had seemed to save him from injury. Once his legs where under him, the bot made his way towards Lilith; he scrambled up her left arm and then settled on her shoulder.

There was the flash of blue text on Spidey's head and even though Sam was unable to read it he had a good idea what it said.

"Lilith? You awake?"

Stiffly, the hand that had refused to release his the day before rotated with the entire forearm lifted at the elbow before dropping down to the right and returning to its starting position. It reminded Sam of Ed and he wondered how the robot was doing, as well as Tom.

What did the computer programmer think happened, that Sam was at home deathly ill? He had missed two days of work at least, now working on number three. He doubted though the government had planned on allowing him to go back, Tom had most likely been told something a little more drastic. Something along the lines that Sam had died in a car accident or had been selling the satellite plans to another country and had gone on the run. It was most likely the later, that would explain why Ed was gone because Sam was pretty he was in military hands somewhere.

Bee better find him quick, he had no desire to awaken any more robots. What he had already done blew his mind and he needed a friend to reassure him that things will be all right, that the All Spark radiation was not going to make him lose his mind any more than it had already, someone who could just help him and actually respond in more than four letters, and could dismantle the death threats hanging above his heads and finally allow him to go on that vacation.

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his noise. He was an adult, he could deal with this. Had dealt with similar things when he was a teenager, but now knew that normalcy was something he would never have and so he would just have to make the best of his situation, use it to his advantage. To get what he wanted. And what he wanted was to get out of here, to escape, and never look back. But how to do that?

Sam started towards the right corner of the room, planning on a good, well-developed pacing, when his foot came in contact with something and sent it skidding across the floor. He looked down and was reminded and of all the Spidey-like bots that had cropped up over night. Sam toed one, and then looked up at the other two robots. He was suddenly stuck with a strange sense of pride when looking at them, but his attention quickly refocused at the robots at his feet.

"Where'd these guys come from?" Lilith did not react but Spidey gave several animated beeps and Sam could tell he was texting again.

"I can't read you from that far away, you wanna come closer?"

Spidey slid down Lilith's arm and scampered over the desk to Sam's waiting palm. Sam positioned himself so once again the robot could not be seen by the camera. Who ever had brought him breakfast might not had seen what Spidey could do and Sam wanted to keep it that way, his one secret and thus maybe advantage in this situation.

_MAN_

"Someone brought them in?"

_YES_

"Good, I was scared you split or something. Never mind," he added at the beeped question Spidey asked. "Do you know why they're here?"

_NO_ Spidey seemed to think for a moment; obviously his sentience was increasing the longer he was exposed to Sam. Or rather the All Spark that Sam seemed to channel to some extent.

_LIFE_ a screen wash and then, _?_

"Spidey, what are you supposed to do?"

_?_

"Um, directive?" Sam asked hopefully.

_SPY_

"On who?

Spidey lifted his two outside legs, still bent, a few centimeters before returning the cable tips to his hands; a shrug.

"How do you spy?"

The bot spun a circle in his palm, eager to show off. Spidey's screen changed from a solid black to a picture, one of Sam's own face as his voice wafted out from Spidey's head 'How do you spy?'. The recording was crystal clear, and the image was very detailed. Sam could see his chin and sides of his face were covered in so much stubble it could actually be classified as a short beard. The screen flashed that neon blue again, and the image was replaced by a video. It showed Lilith running her hand across his forehead to brush aside a lock of hair that had fallen into his eyes. Sam looked up at the humanoid robot and offered her a small smile.

Sam then turned his attention to the scattering of spider bots at his feet. They were meant to be spies and he could see them being very effective at their job. He did not know how long they had been on top of him, but Sam was still feeling drained and did not feel up to experimenting with what his energy gifting limits were.

In fact, he did not feel like cooperating at all. The spy bots could be used against any one, human or Autobot, and he was giving himself scaring images of one of them getting inside of a Cybertronian body and cutting lines. And more like Lilith could easier be used for war; it would reduce causalities for the United States and increase them for the other side.

He was never a fan of fighting, all the battles he had been in involved using his speed to run away, buy time and provide a distraction, deliver a package. Sure, he could fight, Lennox and Bee had seen to that but it was purely for self-defense. He would protect himself but never instigate something, but it seemed like the military was not on the same page here. So Sam decided to not give them what they wanted. It seemed the one thing he had control over, and if the soldiers came in here to force him to obey he could try and sneak out the door. The chances of success for such a plan, for him, were dismal enough that he did not want to think about it, but it gave him something to focus on. Gave him a goal and helped him see that he had options. Escape and disobedience were something that he wanted to do and that enabled him to keep a clear head and stay steady.

"Stay here," Sam lowered Spidey onto the desk and then walked over to the other side of the room to sit in a corner, back against the wall to stare down a clear path to the other one across the room. He was not going to touch any of them again.

Unfortunately, that plan did not last very long. Sam guessed about two minutes.

Spidey started beeping in a variety of pitches, throwing in a few tweets here and there too. There was the sound of him scuttling on the metal desk, a moment of silence, and then the sound of the little robot landing on the cement floor. Seconds later, the spidery bot was climbing up the side of Sam's body before settling in on top of his shoulder next to Sam's neck, rubbing his tiny head on Sam's skin.

Sam sighed. "Spidey, go back to the desk."

The robot gave a noise of distress and leaped from Sam's shoulder to the top of his drawn up knees. _STAY_

The human glared at the little piece of glitched circuits before his shoulders slumped in defeat. He could not very well lock Spidey in a drawer to keep him away, there was not any in the room.

"Fine," he said in a mock gruff tone, rubbing a finger along the underside of Spidey's head. "But only cuz I can't make you stay away. You'ld just follow me anyways, right?" The sudden flare of protectiveness and kinship had nothing to do with it. At all.

_YES_

Sam dropped his head in between his knees with another sigh and Spidey took the opportunity to nestle into the hair on top of Sam's head. He sat like that for maybe another two minutes before something else happened that interrupted his plan.

With a loud clattering sound, Lilith fell.

Sam's head snapped up at the noise, nearly dislodging Spidey. Lilith was laying on her right side and as Sam watched, her left arm seemed to lift over her head, thinning as it extended, in a gesture of reaching towards Sam.

He turned his head into the wall so he could not see her lying there, stretching towards him as a child did its mother. More contact with her would result in greater functionality; a benefit for the military Sam had decided not to give. Spidey was pulling on his hair and making distressed beeps, trying to get Sam to look at the other robot and help her. After awhile, sensing Sam's current and future lack of action, Spidey's pulls became weaker and weaker until the stopped and eventually the beeps became softer and more pitiful before they too disappeared. Spidey took a new position on Sam's shoulder, the one closest to the other robot.

Maybe an hour after retreating to his corner, Sam dared a look towards Lilith. The white robot was still on her side, still reaching. He quickly turned his head away again, but a few minutes later he was once again staring at Lilith. It really was not fair to her, Spidey was with him because he had the mobility to follow. Did just because Lilith didn't have the ability to move her legs entitle him to just leave her? She had proved to already have a function processor; this was just a form of torture, not letting her have what she wanted.

Sam screwed his eyes shut and then stood up. He spent a moment leaning against the wall, letting his blood flow to cramped legs, before he made the first unsteady steps towards her. Seeing his target, Spidey seemed to awaken from the slump he was in on Sam's shoulder and Lilith dropped her arm, retracting it to its original length.

"I'm such a softy," Sam muttered to himself as he made sure that Lilith was once again on the trolley. Once she was set he turned it, and thus her, on its back and then pushed the trolley up right. Lilith almost feel forward onto the ground but Sam wrapped his arm around her neck and pulled her back against the metal frame. Satisfied she was not going to fall off, Sam wheeled her towards his corner, backing her up against the wall so that once he settled back down she would be right next to him on the right.

That done, he leaned against the wall and slid down it, leaving his legs extended so he could stare at his shoes. Not that they were interesting, but black and blue where much preferable over the dull gray of cement.

Spidey crawling across his chest to his other shoulder was the only warning Sam got before a weight settled on to right shoulder. He turned his head to see Lilith's clamp hand surrounding his shoulder, her upper arm extended so she could reach him. Sam thought about brushing her off, but once again he figured he did not have the right to stop someone from doing something they wanted to. Did not Optimus Prime always talk about the right of sentient creatures to choose for themselves, or something to that extent? Plus, he found he rather liked the touch of the two robot/mechs. It was…warm.

Were Lilith and Spidey sentient anyway? Spidey for sure. He was alert and aware of what was going on; able to answer questions and make suggestions. Not to mention decided what he wanted and take actions to get it. In that way, Lilith was too, Sam guessed. Even though she was unable to communicate with Sam it was obvious she had attentiveness of her surroundings. She had known Sam had left her side, and before that had been able to brush that piece of hair out of his face without poking one of his eyes out.

He had to admit, the two of them _were_ alive. And it seemed liked the feelings they had for him were more that just viewing him as food. Sam doubted Spidey could get any more animate and Lilith had seemed, gentle, when he had inadvertently woken him up that morning.

Sam blamed the All Spark, as he did for a number of things, for the connection he felt with the robots. He felt responsible for them, which was understandable considering it was his fault they were alive, but he also felt affection for them which was more than a little strange. He had nothing against befriending robots, Bumblebee was his best friend after all and had been so for years, and it was true that for the past couple of day he had not had anyone else to talk to, but he had only known them for a couple of days!

He knew that once he was out of here, he should not look back, be glad he was no longer stuck in this depressing little room. His first priority should be his own life, but he found himself thinking more and more of how to bring them with him. Spidey could easily fit in his pocket but Lilith was another issue. She only had use of one arm, and so far had not shown any promise in being able to use anything else. A normal (not crazy, like himself) person would most likely just leave her, but Sam was trying to figure out ways to have her leave with him and was already imagining a life where Spidey and Lilith shared his home with himself and Bumblebee. The Autobot would appreciate company while he was at work. If he managed to get another job that is. By the looks of things he might have to go into hiding again, without government help this time.

He missed Ed too, was wondering what had happened to the satellite arm. Was he still working, still alive? Or had the government scientists taken him apart to see what made him work? Sam wondered if the robot was thinking of him, wanting to be with him like Lilith and Spidey so clearly did. If he knew the four fingered robot was on the other of the wall Sam would be attacking it with the broken chair leg.

Not being able to do anything about escapes or rescues at the moment, Sam just sat there and the tiredness that had been at the back of his mind was slowly making itself heard.

"Hey guys, don't take too much of my energy, kay? Don't know what… would do to me…" He trailed off as his eyes closed, somehow knowing that they had heard and more importantly understood. After all, had not Lilith let go of his hand some time during the night? And was she not now letting go of his shoulder and brushing his cheek softly as her arm retracted and Spidey scampered up his sister's arms? He drifted off into a light sleep.

* * *

Sam was too fogged by sleep to put up a fight when lunch was delivered; instead of one airman delivery boy it was three plus Candy and instead of a pasta dish lunch was a beating and rope. Lilith had not been able to help and a glare at Spidey had told the little spy to stay still and not draw attention to himself, so he had curled up hidden in Lilith's hand.

When the airmen were done Sam was sporting a split lip, a sprained ankle, and several bruises. Rope burn would most likely be added to his injuries in a few minutes time because as soon as the assailants left he would be doing his best to try to escape their confines. The metal chair he was tied to was cold and the ropes too tight to only be a mild discomfort.

"I don't think you understand Witwicky," Candy said menacingly. "You're going to help us, and if you don't do it willingly we'll force you to do so now that we know how it works. Congrats, you get to live."

Sam glared, unable to talk around the gag in his mouth. Silence was an added benefit; its original purpose was to stop him from biting his tongue and killing himself. A dead body did not give off energy for machines to absorb after all. Or so he assumed, the All Spark have given off radiation and created new bots without having a living body. God, he hoped it did not work like that because then the world was screwed.

The two airmen that had been given the task of collecting up the spider spy bots on the floor came into view and dropped them in his lap. Two fell off the pile and tumbled to the floor. Candy bent to pick them up and placed one on each of his shoulders. With a not so gentle pat on his check the agent straightened. "We'll be back for dinner."

Sam threw his weight forward in a pitiful attempt of a lunge, dislodging all but two of the robots in his lap. The black airman standing behind Candy punched him squarely in the temple, whiting out his vision and leaving him too dazed to do anything while he was once again covered in Spidey-wannabes.

"Don't make us kill you," Candy growled before he left the room, but it was an empty threat and they both knew it. But Sam could look forward to more pain and a couple broken bones if he disobeyed.

The door slammed, leaving Sam still dazed and acutely aware of his empty stomach. He had not eaten breakfast nor been given lunch.

After a few minutes Sam resigned himself to hunger and to the ache he could feel forming. He would get something to eat in a couple of hours and would heal in a matter of days. What needed attention now was all the energy leeches stuck on him.

Sam rocked in the chair, effectively shaking off the two on his shoulders and one from his lap. That would not do, he needed to get rid of them _all!_ He rocked again, harder this time and succeeded in casting off a fourth. Building momentum, Sam continued to totter back and forth until he crashed to floor and just laid there for a moment waiting for the pain to fade away. At least all the spiders were out of his lap, but there were still two of them touching his thigh. Sam tried to move the chair backwards to no avail. He thumped his head on the floor in defeat and closed his eyes.

Beep?

Sam opened them and found himself nose to nose with Spidey and he grinned as well as he could around the gag. Candy had not thought to do anything with Spidey or Lilith, why Sam had no clue, but he was glad. He pulled at the ropes, trying to show the little bot that he wanted them cut. Even if the tiny spy did not have any cutting tools he could wear through the rope eventually.

_CUT?_

Sam nodded furiously and Spidey beeped in excitement at the chance to once more show off his skills. He redistributed his weight on his four remaining legs as the right most one seemed to open and fold back to turn into a buzz saw the size of Sam's fingernail. Spidey almost skipped around the chair to get to Sam's back. The human squeezed his eyes shut, hoping that the bot knew what he was doing and would not cut him.

It took awhile for Spidey to get through the ropes, but eventually Sam felt the top robe around his chest loosen. Once his hands were free, he quickly brushed the robots next to his thigh away and then ripped the tape off his mouth and spit out the cloth gag, sputtering. Spidey beeped a couple of times at the noise in concern.

"I'm alight, Spidey. Just getting rid of what was in my mouth." He tilted his head up to get a look at Lilith. Somehow, he was not surprised to see she had gained the ability to move her head to look at him. Sam gave her a reassuring smile and then started removing the pieces of cut rope hanging off him. Ten minutes later Sam was on his feet, weight solely on his right leg and rubbing his wrists.

Spidey poked one of his still brothers with a foot and then turned to Sam. _MOVE_

Sam shook his head, "Sorry Spidey, but no. I'm not making any one else move."

The bot wilted a little, but seemed to accept Sam's authority. He crawled over to Sam's shoes and the human bent down to pick him up.

"We don't need anyone else," Sam rubbed his check against Spidey's head and the spider emitted an electric hum of contentment.

Not wanting Lilith to feel left out, Sam walked across the room to the other robot and took her functioning hand. Her head moved to follow him. "Now, we just need to figure out how to get out of here in one piece. Any ideas?"

Lilith shock her head and Spidey lowered himself and displayed _NO_.

"Oh well, I'm sure an opportunity will knock soon."

Strangely enough, it snuck in a moment later like ninja. The door opened and in slipped a small bosomed woman in a tight grey suite that matched the walls really well. She pressed herself against the wall, and after noting the fallen chair with pieces of rope and spider bots scattered around it glanced around the room before her eyes landed on Sam.

He was standing facing Lilith, Spidey on her shoulder, and they had been trying to come up with a plan to get them all out of there. Ideally it would have been nice to allow Lilith to absorb more of his energy, but as it stood they did not have the time to do that under Candy and Helen's noses. They had to act soon. Needless to say, the appearance of a ninja-esque woman entering his room made him freeze.

"You're Samual Witwicky?" She asked in an accent that sounded like German but was a little off.

"Um, yes?" By her tone of voice, Sam figured she had already knew who he was and was just double checking.

"Good, you're coming with me." She marched over to him and grabbed his upper arm, heading back towards the door.

Spidey immediately released a protesting string of beeps and launched himself at the strange women, aiming for her eyes. She caught him in mid air and threw him into the wall. Spidey hit it with a _crack_ and slid down it, trying unsuccessfully to get back to his feet.

"Spidey!" Sam made to rush over to the fallen bot but the women twisted his arm painfully behind his arm, forcing him to his knees. Spidey gave a couple of worried beeps and Lilith stared sadly at him. Sam got the idea she was angry she could not help and felt pitiful at the moment.

"I'm fine," he ground out, smiling first at Lilith and then Spidey. The woman jerked his arm upward, forcing him to stand and made him walk in front of him.

"Take care of each other!" Sam instructed over his shoulder, "What ever you do, try not to get hurt, okay? And try to get out of here," He struggled, trying to turn around in the woman's grip but it just tightened. "Try to find the Autobots, they'll help you and would love to know where I am."

He had told them all about the Cybertonians those first two days, if they could just get to the NEST headquarters, or even Bumblebee if the Camaro was still at his house,

Sam would have a chance at a rescue and Spidey and Lilith would have a chance to live. He saw Lilith nod and then his vision went starry eyed as the woman threw him into the wall. Spidey voiced his disapproval. Sam felt blood trickle down into his mouth, quite sure she had broken his nose.

"Quite!" She hissed and with one hand still holding Sam's wrist captive she opened the door and looked both ways.

"If I have to drag your unconscious body, I will. So behave," she told Sam as they entered the hallway and the door closed behind them, trapping Spidey and Lilith on the other side. _You'll see them again_, Sam told himself, but he only half believed it. Just more causalities because of Sam Witwicky; first Ed, and now Spidey and Lilith. And before that, Optimus Prime himself.

The ninja woman switched her grip, releasing his wrist and leading him by his elbow. They headed down the hallway, hiding in empty rooms from a pairs of solider walking past.

"Where are you taking me?" Sam hissed, his voice was more nasally than normal due to the broken nose.

"I'm getting you off base, didn't you want that?" she hissed back.

Well, no argument there. He followed placidly after that and a half hour later he saw the sky for the first time in ages.

* * *

**A/N:** Well then, we've got some action going now! Sorry for throwing in another OC, this story is rife with them seeing as how Sam is seperated from all those characters we love and adore, but I can promise that you'll see Bumblebee in the next chapter. And as we go along Sam will leave all these dratted nobodies behind.

While I made the announcement on Dolls already, come the 14th I'll be leaving to spend the rest of the year in New Zealand. A full time internship, conducting research, and trying not to stick out like an American will most likely diminish my writing time. Which is sad cuz I was hoping to do NaNoWriMo this year for an original story. But that still needs a lot of research that I will most likely not have the time for and thus it's more likely I'll do something fanfictiony cuz that means a lot less research. Maybe I'll work on this (but is that cheating since most of what I have written from this story is left from last year?) or maybe I'll work on Frozen's sequel (my other major TF story verse). Anything in particular you guys want to see? Let me know.

Reviews are loved! And you guys too, for reading this story of my mine. Can I call dibs on having you all be my lovely valentines come February?


	6. Big Mech, Little Mech

A Captured Beast Within a Human Skin

_By Uniasus_

**Chapter 6 – Big mech, little mech

* * *

**

It was not very hard to deduce; Sam had been taken by the US military. The men who drove Sam to and from work everyday were very capable of protecting Sam, and if something had happened Bumblebee was sure the military would have let them know. They would need help taking doing someone who could infiltrate them. But the silence was a good as a shouted statement. After all, since Sam worked for the Air Force it would be very easy to grab him.

Prime was furious; this act was essentially 'flipping the bird' as Sam would say, telling the Autobots that the treaty between the United States government and the Autobots was simply a piece of paper with the value of a broken gear collection. And if that was the case, it was quite possible that all the military support they had for going after Depecticons would be yanked out from under then and they would no longer even have access to the base.

Lieutenant Colonel Lennox was looking into the matter, but so far had not had any luck. Despite rising two ranks since Egypt, he was denied access to any files that might be useful. The only things he had been able to access were Sam's file with witness protection and work reports on his project at the Air Force lab he worked.

Sideswipe was the best hacker in the current Autobot force, but he had been unable to find anything in the defense networks files. The government was being careful not to leave any data lying around; everything was either paper or oral.

As frustrated as they all were about the information block, there was also confusion as to why the government would want Sam. The obvious answer would be the All Spark, but the only effect it had on Sam was making him a mechanical genius and bouts of insomnia. The Air Force had already been capitalizing on Sam's smarts, something they had all acknowledged but accepted and even approved of to some sort.

The only other use Sam could possibly have was as a negotiation piece. The government having him could not be to make the Autobot's do something, there had never been any major issues between the two fractions. More importantly, no demands had been made. And while other countries could make use of Sam's knowledge, there was no way the US was going to hand over a brilliant engineer to a foreign entity because it would diminished their own technology assets.

So that left the uncomfortable conclusion the Sam was a barging chip in dealings with the Decepticons.

There two things Prime would not budge on, giving the United States government schematics for their weaponry or diagrams of their anatomy that could expose weak points. It was possible that the Decepticons were willing to share that information in exchange for them Sam.

Just the thought of it caused a missed wave in Bumblebee's spark frequency. The Decepticons would by no means be gentle with Sam and the human could consider himself lucky if he just underwent torture before dying. If Soundwave was given permission to experiment on him… There were Autobot scientists who would most like love to dissect a human to learn more about the species. But an Autobot would only do that to someone who had already died and limit themselves to questions and noninvasive procedures done with permission. Soundwave would do the dissection while the human was still alive and without pain reducing medication. There had been many a good mech who had died under Soundwave's care; those who did survive were not the same. Many ended up going mad and killing themselves. The lucky ones became one of his cassettes with no knowledge of previous lives.

Optimus Prime had sent several of them out to look for Sam. Knowing he had to be kept on a military base somewhere, select Autobots had been assigned to regions of the United States and instructed to scout out the bases in their assigned zones for signs of the human. Bumblebee himself had been delegated the east coast. He had started in Florida and was now making his way up the coastline. So far, no one had heard anything.

Bumblebee was on highway 95, halfway between Baltimore and Philadelphia when he picked up a strange electronic signal. It had a different frequency than anything from Cyberton, and yet was much stronger than anything Earth technology put out. To add to the puzzle, it was moving. Very, very slowly to be sure, but still moving.

Thankfully he did not have to go out of his way to check up on it. It was coming from the direction of McGuire Air Force Base in the center of New Jersey, the next planned spot to spy for information about Sam.

The Camaro transferred from I-95 to I-295 and crossed the state border from Delaware into New Jersey. He had just hit some of the urban sprawl from Philadelphia when he felt the signal change directions; instead of heading east it was now traveling north but by the time he had hit Rancocas it had stopped. And not just anywhere, but according to the satellite positioning system he had constructed upon his arrival on Earth the signal origins was resting at a Redwing Airport. It was only two miles from the base's western most edge.

A half hour later, Bee was pulling into the airport's parking lot and feeling very out of place. He was shinny and bright yellow, quite the opposite of the status of the building complex. It was small, meant for public use, and thankfully that meant no one was there at eight in the morning. He had forty minutes, to be safe, to find this signal source and then he would go and explore the base. Engine clicking as it cooled down Bee just sat there for a while, quite confused because his scanners were telling him he was _on top_ of the strange frequency.

He almost hopped on his wheels when he felt something tiny and metal poke his undercarriage. When the tiny instrument seemed to multiple and all five made their way to his grill it took most of Bee's self control not to shudder at the touch. It was alien, and felt really odd against his own EM field. Vaguely, he wondered if this was what Sam felt like when he touched something unknown and slimy.

What ever was giving off the energy climbed over his front fender so quickly his scanners could not get a good image of it; he only got a vague shape of something with a lot of legs. It moved from his fender to his hood, slowing down as it approached his windshield. Bee rolled back on his shocks in surprise, and the little thing emitted a high beep as its legs slipped out from underneath him.

His more advanced scanners were where his headlights were, but his windows were scanners that could see in a human's visual spectrum. The thing emitting the strange frequency was not what he expected.

For one, it was tiny.

Second, it was very obviously built by humans.

It reminded Bumblebee of a lopsided spider; a small oval head with five slender appendages attached to the head's back that served as legs. The small machine looked down at the Cybertonian's hood, tapped it with his left most leg, and then returned his gaze to Bee's windshield as if he knew the Camaro could see him.

_BOT?_ appeared on the spider's head. Bumblebee did not respond, but the screen refreshed itself with a neon blue wash and a new message appeared. _BEE?_

When he did not respond after a full minute, the tiny mechaniod's head sunk and it turned around as if to slid off his hood. Not willing to let it go, and curious as if it was asking for him personally of just displaying random letter patterns, Bee turned on his radio.

"_That's my name, that's my name, that's my name._" (**"That's My Name" by Akcent)**

The other mech spun around so fast its legs slipped from underneath it on Bumblebee's polish. Not bothering to get back up, it flashed him two more texts.

_HELP_ blue flash _SAM_ another clearing of the screen and then an image was displayed, Sam tied to a chair with tape over his mouth.

Bumblebee's engines came to life with an aggressive roar and a whine blasted out from under his hood that quickly became too high for humans to hear. A quick scan revealed still no humans in the area so he shot off towards the nearest empty hanger, his passenger beeping in fear and only managing to stay on by wrapping his legs around a windshield wiper. Once inside, Bee hastily shed his Camaro alt form and ended up crouched in his bi-pedal one, the ceiling being to low for him to stand. Not worrying about being gentle he grabbed the strange robot between two fingers, deposited it in his waiting palm, and began shooting off questions.

"Is Sam okay?"

_? WAS_

"Is he here?"

_NO_

"Then where is he?"

_?_

Bumblebee really wanted to punch a wall right now, but he would most likely end up putting his entire fist _though_ the wall. That would only lead to unwanted attention, especially so close to McGuire. So he settled for clenching his fists as tightly as possible.

A series of frantic beeps drew his attention to his left hand and he quickly unfolded it. Guilt flooded his emotional programming as he noticed one of the legs was bent halfway down and the little robot seemed unable to move the lower half of it. Bumblebee made to apologize but was interpreted by a video starting to play on the tiny mech's display screen.

There was a quick shot of Sam's face, tired and warn, dirty and scruffy, before it snapped to the side and the video panned over to see what had gotten his attention. There was a thin woman dressed in a gray suit entering the room, looking like she was trying to avoid detection. A spy.

Bumblebee lifted the spider bot closer to his optics so he could see the tiny screen better.

"You're Samuel Witwicky?" the female spy asked in a Germanic accent.

"Um, yes?" Sam's voice came from off screen.

"Good, you're coming with me," the woman grabbed Sam's upper arm and started dragging him towards the door.

The camera leapt towards the woman, was obscured by a hand, and then it quickly retreated. There was an unpleasant sound as the camera, the bot in his hand, connected with the wall. The next view was of a quickly approaching floor. There was a series of unsteady, askew shots as the bot tried to regain his footing and failed.

"Spidey!" Sam's voice called out. Bumblebee could see a man's shoes take a couple of steps forward, the camera unable to view anything higher than Sam's knees, and then there was a hiss of pain as Sam was forced to his knees. Bee could see blood spatters on the hem of Sam's shirt, but was unable to see higher up to tell if the injury it came from was serious.

"I'm fine," Sam sounded as if he had said it around a clenched jaw. He was forced back to his feet.

The video jumped ahead a couple of seconds; Bumblebee still could only see feet. Sam and the woman were farther away now, near the door with Sam in front. The engineer spoke again. "Try to find the Autobots, they'll help you and would love to know where I am."

There was a soft thud of flesh connecting with something hard, Sam's feet were right up against the wall. There was a beep of protest and then the woman spoke again.

"Quite!" The door opened. "If I have to drag your unconscious body, I will. So behave."

Sam and the women passed through the door and it closed behind them. The screen held the last shot of the video for a second before it once again gave a flash of blue and returned to it's normal black. The spider bot let out a couple of long, drawn out sad beeps.

The Autobot let out a sad whine of his own, falling backwards onto his aft with a dull clang and just sat there. Sam had been here, alive! But it did little to comfort him. Hours ago Sam was alive, but from the video he had just watched Bee was pretty certain the human was not in the best of shape. He assumed that the image of Sam tied to the chair had happened prior to the scene he had just seen play out. The Camaro had a sneaking suspicion that the woman had been a spy from another country.

And that brought up the whole question of what would a foreign country want with one more engineer? Bee did not think plans for a self-repairing satellite were that important.

A warning flashed on his HUD, if he wanted to get out of there before drawing any attention from humans he would have to leave, now. Gently he placed his new friend on the ground and returned to simply being a yellow Camaro with black racing strips with an engine that could out run any Earth vehicle.

Throwing open his passenger side door, Bumblebee made an encouraging click at the tiny bot on the floor to have him climb aboard. Even after Bee maneuver himself so that the spider had the shortest distance possible to travel on his gimpy leg it still took a painful ten minutes for the little guy to climb aboard and sag, completely spent for the moment into Bumblebee's passenger seat. The door closed with a quick snap and the Cybertronian raced out of the airport just as the first worker was pulling in to park.

The spider bot however was chittering away angrily, his screen flashing between _HELP_ and _LILI_. He began digging his four working legs into his seat, and when that failed to get a response, turned one of his legs into a miniature buzzsaw and attacked the door.

Bee threw him out and then continued driving. His goal was to help Sam, not Lili. But a mile past the guilt over came him and he turned around. The tiny mech had moved, a couple inches, back towards the airport. A quick scan revealed no one in the area, so he transformed and gently picked up the other mech to place him in his palm. He got straight to the point.

"Who's Lili?"

He was rewarded with a video of humanoid robot brushing a strand of hair out of a sleeping Sam's face. It was this robot he though was Lili.

"She's alive like you?"

A nod. A shake. Bee wasn't sure what that meant. "What does she need help with?" The tiny spider mech helped him with Sam, surely he could quickly return the favor. And it looked like Lili was a friend of Sam's too, if the video was anything to by.

_FREE _wash _BASE_

Ah, a rescue mission then. Bumblebee was in the mood for one of those. And for dealing some damage to the government. He transformed, once again offering a ride to the little mech, and made his towards McGuire. A message was sent to Prime informing him of the knowledge Bee found about Sam and then a quick notification was sent to Ratchet stating he had acquired mechs in need of repairs.

Duty done, Bee turned his scanners inward to find his passenger had settled in a cup holder. The spider mech had curled around the base, head resting lightly on top of the four uninjured legs.

"Sorry I hurt you," Bee said over the radio.

_ITOK_ appeared on the small screen followed by _WORY_.

The clicking noise Bee responded with was the Cybertronian vocal equivalent to a sigh. "Yes, I'm worried about Sam."

_BEOK_

The rode on in silence for a few miles before Bumblebee spoke up again. "So, is 'Spidey' your name?"

The happy string of beeps was all he needed for a yes.

* * *

**A/N:** Sorry it took so long to get this up, it has been ready for a while. I had to go back and put Lilith in cuz a couple of you wanted to see her again. Don't know if she'll actually make an appearance, but at least she's no longer at the base where I had originally planned to leave her. I'm so mean! But really, she's kinda hopeless, unable to move her legs. And she really won't make much progress on her own.

Hope the Spidey talk isn't too hard to understand and you guys all jet when I mean when he says something like "HELO wash PAL". He's simply refreshing his screen, in case you missed that. Because he is mobile, he may show up later. We'll see. I can tell you, after the massive amount of writing I've been doing, that the Cons do show up sometime. In like...chapter 10. I'd say more, but I'm not entirely sure where this thing is going anymore. My outline is pretty much so messed up at this point I can't really follow any of my sub points. I blame Sally. You'll guys meet her in Chapter 9. Or maybe it's all the crazy good hot chocolate I get on Tues (my writing days). Or New Zealand is messing with my brain. I've been here less than a month and I already don't want to go home T.T

So yeah, still up in the air about NaNo next month. I've got even votes for exclusive writing for this fic and for starting on Frozen's sequel. Any other voters?


	7. Neutral, Smtural

A Captured Beast Within a Human Skin

_By Uniasus_

**Chapter 7 – Neutral Smtural**

**(Starts before the events of Ch 6)

* * *

**

His ninja rescuer had spewed out a name that resulted in Sam just staring at her and not even thinking about trying to pronounce it. So he settled for Chie. She had given him an undecipherable look, but then let it slide. What ever she had told him was most likely not her real name anyway.

There had been a lot of starting and stopping, being pushed into rooms to hide from soldiers, and a lot of forceful arm grabbing Sam was the recipient of. And then there was the exposure to the elements once they had managed to sneak out of the military buildings; Chie seemed warm enough, but dressed in just a spare t-shirt meant to be simply an under layer for the work uniform meant he was cold. It was too large for him as well, slipping off his shoulder. He had not minded it in the room with Spidey and Lilith, it had been warm, but now outside Sam could not stop shivering.

Chie had them alternating between a fox trot and brisk walk. She kept harassing him to go faster, but he really couldn't with his ankle sprained. He kept stumbling and it was throbbing painfully. Sam already suspected that he wouldn't be able to simply take off his shoe; it would have to be cut off.

Eventually they arrived at a tiny airport. There were three hangers, a single runway surrounded by unchecked native vegetation, and a tiny air control tower not even half a story taller than the hangers. The place was lacking in lights, most likely only used by locals during the day, but there was a quite roar of engines coming from the start of the runway. Sam did not need to see cockpit lights to know the plane Chie was leading him to was small and most likely built to be fast and sneaky.

"Where are we going?" Sam asked, slowing down.

"You'll see."

"No," he stopped and then started to back up. "I want to go home or no where at all."

Sam could not see Chie's glare in the dark, but he felt it. "You're coming with me."

_No!_ his mind shouted, he wanted to go home to Bumblebee and spend a night on his parents' couch. Getting on a stealth jet heading off to who knows where with who knows who was not on the agenda.

He turned and ran, heading towards the airport's gates. Three limping strides after his start Sam was forcibly reminded that Chie was a ninja and thus impossible to escape from. She tackled him from behind, bringing him to the ground with a _thumpf_ and causing his nose to start bleeding again.

Chie grabbed his hands and pulled them behind his back, shifting positions to sit on them instead of his calves. God, she was heavier than she looked! She yanked on the hair on the back of his head, bring his face a few inches closer to her own.

"I told you I'd drag your unconscious body if I had to," she whispered gleefully. She let go, and Sam turn his head to make sure his nose did not suffer any more injury when his face hit the ground. And then the bitch dug her fingers into the pressure point on the side of his neck. Sam cried out in pain, trying to stay awake but he only lasted a few seconds before going limp.

* * *

Sam woke up to the feeling of disorientation he usually attributed to flying, his least favorite mode of transportation. Riding in Bee was a whole lot more pleasant. He swallowed a couple of times and opened his eyes, only to be met with a grinning Chie. A scowl found it's way onto his features.

Chie did not give him any time to make conversation, instead forcing his head slightly back and pressing a small towel over his nose. He winced at the pain. "Hold that there until the bleeding stops. It might take awhile, altitude."

He wanted to glare at her, but the towel was in his way and he was trying to concentrate on not pinching his nose more than necessary while simultaneously trying to get his ears to pop.

A couple minutes later Sam once again felt Chie's hand on his face, prying the towel away. She stared at his nose for awhile and before he could make any protest, grabbed and twisted. There was a dull _crack_ and a blinding flash of pain that caused him to suck in air. Once the pain faded, Sam opened his mouth to cuss her out but he paused when he realized the throb that had been in the center of his face since she had slammed against the wall in the base was no longer there. He gave her a questioning look.

"While I was not told to not hurt you, things would be better if you are as healthy as possible. Here, put your foot up," Chie got up and indicated her seat before walking out of his sight.

Sam stared at the chair for a moment before putting his left leg up on it. He executed a couple of forced yawns and was rewarded by his ears finally popping. The window a seat away from him was covered and Sam debated about opening it. It was night, so who knew if he would be able to see things, but it was worth a try. He was leaning over the seat next to him to reach it when Chie came back with a first aid kit.

There was not much she was able to do for the bruises on his upper arms and left side aside from giving him some pain killers which he popped back before she could even offer to get him a glass of water. She taped together his split lip and then none-to-gently cleaned and wrapped his wrists, mementos from being tied to the chair. Finished, she threw him some wipes to clean up the crusted blood on his face and disappeared.

He gingerly did so, taking extra care around his still aching nose. Despite all of his adventures with the Autobots, he had never broken a bone before. Bruised them, cracked them, sure, but broken? Figured it would be a short woman and not a towering Decepticon that would finally do it.

Chie came back with an ice pack and a silver container he eyed warily. She dropped the ice on his ankle and deposited the container into his lap. Surprisingly, it was warm. Oh dear merciful Lord it was food! Now that his body was aware of what was sitting in his lap his stomach gave a loud growl and he was too hungry to be embarrassed about it. When had he last ate? Sometime yesterday and Sam did not want to think about how long it had been since he had real food. Honestly, college students ate better then what he had been feed the last couple of days.

Quickly he tore off the lid to see small pieces of chicken over a bed of rice. Sam was so hungry he had already started to pick up the meat with his fingers when Chie stuck a plastic knife and fork in his face.

"Most civilized people use these."

"Well, so~rry. I'm starving!"

Chie narrowed her eyes at him and then softened her gaze. "I know. But that doesn't mean you have permission to turn into an ape."

Sam grunted and then ignored her in favor of dinner. It might be airplane food, but he really did not care. Conscious of Chie watching him, he made a point of not taking big forkfuls and overly stuffing his face, taking his time to at least somewhat taste the food before he swallowed it. When he was done Chie silently took his trash away and returned with a pillow and blanket that she threw at him. Her aim was fabulous, the pillow got him full in the face and his nose gave a painful throb. He quickly pulled it down into his lap.

"What gives?"

"Get some sleep, we have a nine hour flight ahead of us."

"Wait, what? That's halfway around the world!"

Chi gave him a 'yeah, so what?' look.

Sam steeled his voice, "Where are we going?" he demanded.

"Home," she said, walking past him to the cockpit.

He twisted around in the chair to watch her disappear in past the door and then slumped in defeat into the chair. Sam crossed his arms, staring at his foot, and then leaned over to push up the blind on the window. For a few minutes he stared at the city lights below him, but they soon gave way to blackness and he suspected they were currently beginning a journey across Atlantic Ocean. One thing was for certain; Chie lived pretty far away.

* * *

The first thing Sam noticed when he stepped off the plane was the mountains. Tons and tons of high peaked, snow capped towers of rocks. It made him feel really small, the way they pressed in around him. The plane had landed on a base of some sort, situated in a tiny offshoot valley and downstream of a small lake.

Sam guessed it was a military base because everyone was in uniform and carrying a weapon of some sort, but was rather taken aback by the small size of the facility. There were only two good-sized hangers, and the aircraft he saw all looked ill equipped for combat. So did the few land terrain vehicles. There were a lot of towers though, housing a lot of date receiving, collecting, and broadcast equipment. The idea that this base was not concerned with national defense and rather focused on research instead made him uneasy.

He turned around to look at the other side of the small base and noticed a flag, the cloth just barely flapping in the weak wind of the night. It was mostly red, with a splash of white he caught occasionally but was unable to tell what the shape was.

Chie grabbed him by the shoulder so he faced forward again and prodded his back to make him walk forward; a reminder that he was not a gawking tourist here on vacation but rather someone who was here against his will. A prisoner. Suddenly, he wished he was still in US clutches. At least then he sorta knew where he was and what to expect. There were too many unknowns here and it made him on edge.

So did that beady-eyed guy standing in the center of the group of people Chie was directing him too. His face was still rather young, but already his hair was gray. Which, by the way, was styled liked the original Superman's. Complete with curled lock on the forehead.

To the right of him looked like two subordinates, judging by the way they positioned themselves in relation to Superman. Both were younger, but by no more than ten years. The woman kept staring at him, making him fidget. The male also watched him, but his gaze was hidden behind sunglasses.

On Superman's other side were the people that Sam kept the closest eye on. They were tall and had the physique of a lightweight WWF contender. Sam couldn't help but see himself as prey in their eyes. Both seemed to be watching him to spot a weakness and were ready to leap at him any second. If they were there to make sure he behaved, they were doing a pretty good job at it.

Chie stopped him about five feet from the group and started talking with boss Superman. The guy seemed to question her; he circled around the pair of them, asking questions all the while. Chie followed his path with burning eyes and a quick tongue; Sam simply lowered his gaze to his shoes and watched Superman circle him out of the corners of his eyes.

After a few circles he seemed satisfied and paused in front of Sam. Chie poked him in the side, the not bruised one thankfully and he lifted his head to look at the man. He was leaning towards Sam, but his feet were firmly planted that said beside his fascination in the American he was not planning on getting any closer.

Sam squirmed under his look, feeling rather like he was being studied. He did not like the feeling; there was nothing different between him and Superman. Aside from that whole making robots come alive thing. Oh shit, he was not just a prisoner here; he was going to be a human lab rat!

He took a step backwards, stepping on Chie's toe. She retaliated by pushing him forward, causing Sam to stumble forward a couple of steps. Superman took a couple of steps backwards as Sam got closer. Sam felt his anger rise, the guy was acting like he was diseased! He did not want to deal with this, there was no way he was going to run in a wheel and allow them to monitor his brain waves. He needed to get off this base; it would most likely be easy to lose trackers in the mountains. Very easy to get lost himself and die of starvation.

Superman leaned backward so he stood completely upright and clasped his hands behind his back. "Welcome HCH 01, Samuel Witwicky, to Switzerland. "

Before Sam had a chance spew out questions, ('WTF? Switzerland?' and 'HCH whats-it?') he found the two beefed up soldiers on either side of him and a gun butt to the back had him stumbling forward towards a set of doors built into a near by mountain face.

They led him down corridor after corridor. The Air Force base had been overly done in gray; this one was overdone with a tarnished copper green. While Sam preferred the green, the beeps and electronic noises he could hear emanating from some of the closed doors did not put him at ease. By the time Buff and Buffer had him turn down a dead end hallway he was jumping at almost every pipe shadow.

The room they led him too however did not have a single piece of electronic equipment in it. He took that back, there was a camera hiding in the far corner, but Sam was used to those by now. But there was no glass wall for observation, no bio-rhythm monitors set up, nothing. It made Sam immensely pleased; Europeans were always said to have had great hospitability, and pushed up into one corner of the tiny room was a bed. After spending several nights on a metal desk and then sleeping upright in an airplane chair a cloth cot would have been heaven. The Swiss though had actually given him a real bed, as in a _mattress._

As soon as he crossed the threshold towards it the door slammed shut behind him. Sam whirled around, but did not see much point in doing anything else. There was no way he had the strength to force the lock open. Plus looking at the door just nailed in the idea of being trapped, something he did not want to think about. So he settled for pacing the room instead.

Sam was sure they were trying to be considerate, nine pm local time really was a bit late to start things (unless you were a university student) and the flight had been long. But nine at night was only noon in California, and who knew when at the Air Force base he had been held at. Either way, he was pretty sure that the sun was still up in the States and so right now he was not tired.

His ankle did not let him pace for very long; eventually he was forced to collapse into the bed (_a bed!_) and stare at the ceiling.

Switzerland.

He had been kidnapped…by Switzerland! It was the country that was supposed to be neutral, to have very little to do with the politics and actions of others, to have criminal bank accounts and good skiing. Not labs hidden in mountain valleys and ninja spies!

And yet here he was, Sam Enig, originally Samuel James Witwicky, waiting to become lab specimen. He even already had his own acronym! Vaguely he wondered if Simons and other ex-Sector Seven agents would call him by it. He did not know what to think of that; on hand it was funny because of its ridiculous nature and on the other he wanted to punch who ever came up with it. Next thing you know, he would be in a cryogenic chamber and there would be a whole section of the Swiss government studying his DNA and making clones.

A shudder ran through him at the thought and he did his best to clear his mind and not think of anything. Having had lived through quite a few harrowing scenarios he usually thought up variations of the worst possible solution. But he had learned that many times the imagination was worse than reality, trying not to think about what could happen tomorrow would insure he did not drive himself into a frenzied bundle of nerves.

But there was no way he could turn his brain off, no matter how much he wished it. His body was thinking there was still a good part of the day left and the All Spark had lots of energy and force because there had been little of interest to it for about a day. Sam had found it acted like a child sometimes; it needed to constantly be entertained. Usually his work was enough to placate it, aside from those moments when it became obsessive, and when weekends came around he settled for reading articles.

His time with Lilith and Spidey had kept it thoroughly amused, but now that they were gone Sam was hoping thinking of some of the challenges he had yet to tackle for the satellite would conciliate the All Spark. Instead he found his mind drifting to Ed, Spidey, and Lilith. Not about how they were, though Sam certainly wondered, but about how Sam had felt toward them. How there had been some sort of connection between each one of them and Sam and/or the All Spark in his brain. Sam could not tell if it was his personal thought, or one manipulated by the Cube, but he wanted to feel that again.

Sam shot up, swinging his legs over the side of the bed and braced his elbows on his knees, his face finding a resting place in his palms. The All Spark _wanted_ to create life. It wanted to feel the connection between it and other sparks, hold on to it and watch how it grows.

Motherhood.

Prime had explained to him at some point that the All Spark was simply a partially aware conscious whose purpose was to bring sparks from the Matrix into the newly built protoforms of sparklings. But the Semi never said anything about the character of the All Spark, he did not believe it had one. Sam never quite agreed, knowing that it had some semblance of desires and basic emotions towards things. But now, staring at him in the face was the irrefutable knowledge that the All Spark was female. And it wanted to be a mom. The worse part was, since they shared a brain Sam too had at least some desire to be a parent.

But he was logical. In the past the All Spark had not had to care for the child, but here on Earth Sam would have to. Sure, the Autobots would most likely help, would genially want to, instead of just simply doing it to help him. But already Sam had brought into the world three sparks and had lost them. If he could not even take care of one, obviously he was not ready to create more.

Plus what would he do with the children? How would he take care of them? Sam had no clue, nor did the All Spark. It never had to raise one. But it had liked having Spidey and Lilith around. In fact the All Spark seemed to have no idea of responsibility. It just wanted to have kids, tons and tons of sparklings to surround it with love and warm and life. Sam knew that such a want was impractical, irresponsible, and tired to let the All Spark know but it was being stubborn and refused to listen.

So not only did he share his mind with a girl, Sam shared it with a young one who dreamed of playing house. God, he felt like a baby-sitter. Only this was worse because a baby-sitter would eventually relinquish care of the child to the parents while Sam was stuck with this child for the rest of his life. Was in fact, as much as a part of the child as it was of him.

Sam had a strong desire to pace again, but settled for tapping his right foot in a rapid manner on the ground. He needed to come up with something to distract the All Spark with. If he did not pacify it – her – Sam knew she would take over and direct his own actions and thoughts. At the lab it was somewhat allowed, it helped him with his projects after all, but here in foreign and threatening territory it was not. Instead it was dangerous.

He kept forcing himself to think of challenges for her to latch on to. How many different ways could he disrupt the camera feed from the room with a variety of tools at his disposal? What type of legs would Ed want? Was Ratchet really able to turn Ironhide's cannon into a toaster? It took awhile, but eventually the All Spark abandoned the thought of sparklings and attacked the problems until Sam fell asleep hours later. He hoped this would not become a nightly ritual because he doubted he had enough questions to last a week.

* * *

**A/N:** Chie name is a tribute to the first female to complete the first stage of Ninja Warrior, in case you're interested. It's a great program to watch when a certain alien artifact won't let you sleep ^_~

So yea...surprise! Double update! Kinda. I rarely update to chapters of a story so quickly, but I've been sitting on this representation of the All Spark for a while and having me know and you guys not know kinda confused me. So yeah, here you go!

Questions, comments, and esquires about the future will all be answered if you review. Also any one of you guys know of a cheap, good, single serving meal that isn't pasta/ramen noodles? I could use some variety -_-


	8. Lab Rat

A Captured Beast Within a Human Skin

_By Uniasus_

**Chapter 8 – Lab Rat

* * *

**

Sam did not know at what time he had fallen asleep, but he guessed late by Swiss local time. He woke up groggy and bleary eyed, and while his side still pained him at least his back was not stiff from spending a night on top of a desk. Pushing himself up, Sam did his best to rub the sleep out of his eyes.

"Good morning!" Sam nearly jumped out of his skin at the way too chipper voice. In a chair near the head of his bed was none other than Superman, still keeping that three-foot distance. He vaguely wondered if he was radioactive or something.

"I did not introduce myself yesterday, but I am Dr. Lenz. I'll be working with you."

"Um, nice to meet you, I'm Sa—"

The scientist cut him off with a wave of his hand. "I know you, or at least of you. We have received data of what you did in the United States."

"And what exactly did I do?" He narrowed his eyes at the scientist, but he doubted it would be very aggressive considering his current state.

"You, shall we say, animated a robot."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Come come, lying isn't becoming of you. You bring robots to life."

Sam paled and made his way toward the other side of the bed, fluffing a rumpled blanket and placing it under his still swollen ankle. Bringing robots to life was a crazy thing to be able to do, something fantastical, and not allowed. It couldn't be real (did that mean Spidey and Lilith weren't either?), it shouldn't be real (and yet that connection to them, a sense of ownership), and he could somewhat pretend it wasn't. But hearing it out loud, as frankly and as surely as if the older man was reading from the encyclopedia, made it impossible to deny even a little bit.

"I don't want to." He whispered the confession, the half-lie because the All Spark part of him did and was fluttering in his mind in agitation, distracting him from the here and now. But here was someone who was actually talking to him, not a solider, not a spy, and yes a creepy scientist that acted like he was a leper, but still someone who was treating him decently and not ignoring him like Chie was on the plane. Sam felt like he owed Lenz something for it, and while he wasn't going to give up his brain he could offer up a little honesty. Not that he thought it would change anything.

Dr. Lenz nodded. "We figured as much and are not going to force you to do something you have no desire to do." He reached down to the floor and brought up a plate, which he set gingerly on Sam's pillow. "Good ahead, eat."

Sam stared at it, there were some slices of bread and a variety of meats arranged on the plate with selection of butter rounds in one corner. He crawled forward, shooting a questioning look at Lenz before grabbing the plate and settling in the bed's middle.

"If you don't want living robots, than what do you want?"

"To understand, to gain knowledge, to find out what is causing this…ability of yours. All we know is that the All Spark is involved."

Sam, who had been trying to spread the butter on a piece of bread without the use of a knife, poked a hole through the slice. "Wh-what?" he sputtered.

The other man gave him a knowing smile. "After what happened in Egypt did you really think your government could keep quiet? I know you were young then, still are, but I find it hard to believe you are that naive."

Sam blushed in embarrassment. "I never thought about it, just that they had all been told I had died."

"Ah," the doctor shifted a little his seat, uneasy and then cleared his throat. "After that spectacular it was impossible to hide the existence of the aliens from Cybertron. Select members of foreign governments were told about their presence here and the war they, and now indirectly us, are involved in. How they followed a powerful artifact here, only to have it destroyed eight years ago. And how the Deceptions tried to get revenge on humanity for getting in their way the first time by trying to blow up the Sun."

Sam gulped, breakfast forgotten for the moment.

"Am I correct in assuming they wanted you because you were the one who stopped them in Mission City?"

"I'ld rather not talk about that," Sam mumbled into his plate. That had only been a bonus reason; the real one had been the map in his head. Lenz seemed to take it as a yes.

"Fascinating. Anyway hybrid, following the law of conservation the energy the All Spark had, had to have gone somewhere. Considering that Mission City is still standing, we hypothesize it was absorbed."

Sam gave up on the butter and placed a piece of meat on the bread instead, taking a bite and chewing thoroughly before swallowing to answer. Lenz was way to close. "Like what, into the ground? Mission City is rather green for still being in the process of rebuilding from a battle."

Lenz narrowed his eyes at Sam. "Yes, something along those lines."

"Sorry, but you're wrong."

"Oh?" the scientist leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms.

"Yeah, there was a shard of the All Spark that had not been destroyed. I'm sure the energy you're looking for is there."

Sam thought he saw a sneer flash on the doctor's face, but it did not last long enough for him to be sure. "My team is of the opinion that the energy from the Cube was enormous. So even if a part of the All Spark had survived I'm sure not all of it's previous energy would be inside."

"You don't believe me? Ravage attacked the place where it was held and used it to heal Megatron!" Sam started to eat his breakfast more quickly, thinking that it would be taken from him before he was done at this point.

Lenz did not answer for a moment. Sam wondered just how much the U.S. government had told everyone. It seemed that there were some elements missing from the tale that Lenz knew and it was making his life tough. Then again, if the scientist had known everything he would have known right away the younger man was twisting things.

The man bent down again and came up with a thermos that he placed next to Sam's pillow. Sam eyed it, after all the bread he was eating something to drink sounded like a good idea. He leaned forward to grab it and then returned to his previous position. It was not much desired coffee, but at this point he did not mind exchanging it for tea.

Sam took his first sip when the scientist spoke again. "Knowing what I do, I still think that much of the All Spark energy found a different container. An organic one that had been close by when it was destroyed."

Sam did not look at him, just continued drinking. God, it had been a while since he had caffeine; this stuff was addictive! And this type was not overly sweet like the stuff his mom had liked to drink.

"Don't you want to know why the things you touch come alive?"

He looked into the thermos, not answering.

"Or maybe you know that already?"

Sam knocked back the rest of the tea and glared at Lenz. "No. I do not know why they come 'alive' as you say. Would I like to know? Maybe. But I don't know anything." Yes, it was the All Spark's fault, he was pretty positive about that at this point. He didn't need to know the details of how it happened though, he knew enough; machines feed off of his energy.

Dr. Lenx looked coolly at him, flicked his eyes to the tea, and then back to Sam's face. The American had a sneaking suspicion that he was not believed. They sat in silence for while before the doctor spoke up again. "You sure you don't want to know what's happening to you?"

"No! I mean, yes, I don't want to know," Sam stated. Things happened and that was that. His only worry was if it meant something bad for him long term, this new development. If Ratchet was near by, he'd practically teleport to the medic's side. Because this was certainly a new effect of being the All Spark's container, and something had to have triggered it, right? But still, his only ill effects up to this point had been insomnia and having no choice but to run his body into the ground. There was nothing…dangerous about this new ability. 90% certain. Or maybe 80% now that he thought about it, shivering slightly from the cold and removing the blanket from under his foot to place it around his shoulders. The scientist was making a point to keep his space.

The question he asked Spidey earlier drifted through his brain, what would happen if a robot took too much energy?

But he was reluctant to let Lenz and his team do anything to answer his question, he didn't trust them. But there was very little chance Sam could figure things out for himself, he did not know how to operate medical equipment aside from a thermometer. Ratchet could tell him what was wrong, but it had been what? Four, five days since he got kidnapped at work? He was not really sure, all the changes in time zones had made him lose track of time. And Sam was currently on the other side of the ocean. He was nowhere near the Autobots, so if he wanted answers he had to rely on the Swiss. Being trapped was never a feeling he liked.

"What did you have in mind?"

Lenz leaned back in his chair with a satisfied air. It made Sam frown.

"Nothing invasive. Just simple a medical exam, some blood tests, maybe a brain scan."

Sam fiddled with his hands and thought about it. It sounded harmless enough, just a couple of tests.

"Okay." He swung his feet over the side of the bed and stood up, giving a large stretch. His ankle only twinged a little. Sam looked at the plate and mug still stilling amidst crumpled sheets. "Um, what about my dishes?"

"Don't worry about them, someone will take care of them. Come on now." Lenz made his way over to the door and knocked a pattern on it. Slowly it opened outwards.

"Are you planning on wearing that out?"

Sam looked down and found that the blanket was still around his shoulders. "Yes, I'm cold."

Almost defiantly, he tightened the blanket's ends around his shoulders and held them together with his right hand. Lenz didn't react much, just walked out the door.

Sam followed, eyeing the guards that stood on either side of the door as he passed. They were the same two he had noticed behind the doctor when he had first gotten off the plane. He wondered why they seemed less intimidating now, but did not dwell to long on the thought.

He had expected a long trek, through miles and miles of tunnels to cross the Swiss base before ending up in front of the door to the medical bay. Instead, it was three doors down. Sam sent a quizzical look at Lenz as he drew abreast to the scientist, but was taken aback instead when he seemed to jump back away from Sam.

"I prefer my space," Lenz gave as an explanation and Sam began to question his choice to let the doctor examine him if he was this eccentric.

At least the medical bay looked normal enough; beds in the center with a bunch of technology on wheels situated along the walls. There looked to be a dentist chair in one corner. Sitting in front of the TV in another were the two assistants Sam had noticed earlier.

"HCH 1, I want you to meet Dr. Carter and Dr. Smirnov."

"What does that mean anyway?" Sam asked, turning to face the lead scientist. His question went unanswered as both of the other scientists got up out their chairs to face him.

Sam had not taken a good look at the two the previous night, and considering they were both staring at him like a lab rat, he took the opportunity to now to return the feeling. Dr. Carter, the female, was the taller of the two but not by much. She was thin, had a huge head of fuzzy short hair, and to his surprise had a single circular gauged earring on the left. The skin around it was different hue than the rest of her ear, what he assumed was birthmark.

"Cold?" Dr. Smirnov asked. Sam turned his head toward him drawn by the sound of a voice that reminded him of Michael Crawford, though he had the same accent as Chie did. Lenz had a different one, now that he thought about it, but it was barely there. What really caught Sam's attention though was the pair of sunglasses on the male scientist's face. Sunglass at night he could understand, but a pair in an underground complex?

"Blind?" He shot back.

"Almost," The Swiss man pushed up his sunglasses to reveal massive scarring around his eyes. The lid was closed on the right and Sam had a sickening feeling there was no eye behind it.

There was someone prodding his back, Carter since he could see Lenz off to the side. "Sit, sit," she said in a piercing voice (which strangely reminded him of Starscream), and Sam had to wonder if she knew much English. He didn't think it was a main language in Switzerland. Actually he had no idea what they even spoke natively here. But he was pretty confident it wasn't English.

He didn't feel like striking up a conversation and it seemed like the doctors didn't mind his lack of talking, so he just sat there as they directed him to do things. They did everything from take his blood to measure the circumference of his head. He tried to make out what they were saying, Carter and Smirnov had accents that sounded like German and he had studied that a little due to school requirements, but the sounds surrounding him were softer, more lyrical, and yet didn't match any of the Spanish pop culture had taught him. The All Spark in his mind was intrigued by the challenge, comparing what he was heard with what he knew of other languages. It had actually been able to figure out numbers, though not what the language was, by the time Lenz asked him to take his shirt off.

"What? No." Sam said, snagging back full control of his mind. "I'm cold."

"You have a fever, I'd expect that. It's pretty high actually." Sam frowned, but Lenz didn't seem to notice. "I'm surprised you're not sore."

Well, he was actually, but Sam had attributed that to getting rough handled by Chie. Seriously, Megatron didn't even make him bleed! But he did managed to burn layers of his skin off… But in any case, Sam was use to soreness. Hunching over satellite innards wasn't very comfortable and body aches were also a sometimes side effect of taking a back seat to the All Spark. Mild headaches too (which he also had the moment). Which meant he had long ago learned to ignore such mild body complaints and move along with his life.

"Again, take your shirt off," Dr. Lenz directed, assisted by Dr. Carter yanking his blanket out of his one handed grip.

"Alright, alright."

Sam snagged his blanket back from the female scientist and then slowly peeled his old, who-knows-how-long-lived-in shirt off; it ended up in his lap to be wrung and twisted by his hands. He kept his eyes on the shirt.

Ratchet had left him to the hands of the human medics after the Giza attack, too busy seeing to the Autobots to do anything other than make sure someone was taking care of him (though his parents and Mikaela did a wonderful job at that). It wasn't until they had gotten back to the States and were forced to stay in the safe houses that the Cybertronian had a chance to look at him. Ratchet had did what he could, but there was still an ugly scar on his left side. Pale and pink, the shape reminded him of a hide put out to tan.

It wasn't that he thought the scar was horribly disfiguring or anything, he was pretty indifferent towards it, but the reactions to it felt belittling. Bee seemed to think it was his fault, that it was a failure on the scout's part, and looking at it always seemed to result in a sad/guilty/apologetic look in those blue optics. His parents had fretted, Judy making hysterical what-if horror statements while Ron talked her down, saying it was okay became Sam came back (_from the dead_). But his dad would still follow him around, staying just past the hover perimeter. And Mikaela…Mikaela had refused to touch it. Her fingers sometimes had stretched toward it, but they never fully made contact. Like ignoring it meant it had never happened, like if she acknowledged it by touch his heart would stop a second time and this go-round there was no return trip.

It made him angry; had he not survived everything from high school bullies to Megatron? Twice even on that last one. Yes he was human and than meant he would bruise and get injured. But he was also stubborn and refused to die. It wasn't Bee's fault, his parent's worry (while justified) was obsolete ar his age, and Mikaela…Mikaela seemed to be rejecting reality and treating him as glass at the same time. Sam appreciated it none of it.

The Swedish doctors around him however paid it no mind. Or at least, a detached mind. They took a picture of it, which Sam found as strange, and then proceeded to take a number of pictures from different vantage points around his body to capture his entire chest, back, left and right sides, inner views of both arms, and at least six different angles of his head. The tape measure came out again, though Sam really had no idea why they need the dimension from the top of his sternum to his belly button or the space between each set of ribs. He was asked to bend over, presumably to check his spine and not look at his butt, though he wiggled it a little in the direction of Dr. Carter just for kicks. And then he was asked to take off his pants and go step on the scale. It felt as if he was being catalogued for type of scientific journal.

He was then thankfully allowed to redress, complete with blanket and taken across the hallway to a room where the doctors took x-rays and a whole bunch scans with him inside metal canisters: MRI, PET, and others he didn't know even existed. And then they shoved a razor in hand and pointed towards a mirror before turning back to set up a machine.

"What, no shaving cream?" Sam asked, staring at the doctor's backs but he didn't get answer. It was the wrong type of razor anyway: big, bulky, and electric. The type used in barbershops.

"I'm too young to be bald."

"Either you do it or I do," Dr. Smirnov said over his shoulder. Sam eyed him, they were of similar build and most likely similar strength and if he need to he could fight, but this seemed a rather trivial thing to have a brawl over.

"Well, can I at least get something to get rid of this unfetching beard too?"

The sunglasses made it hard to tell, but Sam felt he was on the receiving end of a glare similar to the one his dad delivered when he had asked for more money three days after receiving his allowance. "Maybe later." And with that, the doctor ignored him again.

Sighing, Sam did a little hop-push off the table and made his way over the mirror. Since he needed to a trim anyway … He turned the contraption over a couple of times in his hand to understand it and then flipped the switch. It was surprising how hard the thing vibrated; he had to steady his right hand with his left. Wincing, he placed the razor on his temple and push up to the crown of his head. It fell of so easily in the wake of sharp blades it slightly angered him. He had strangely wanted his hair to put up a fight. For the principle of the matter. Though what exactly that matter was he found it hard to say.

A low growl was all he got before the razor was ripped from his hand. Sam whirled to see Dr. Smirnov hand the razor off to Dr. Carter. The female scientist turned it off, did something to the settings, and then pointed a finger down towards the floor.

"Sit, sit!" she demanded (yep, definitely Starscream) and when Sam didn't immediately reply Smirnov placed a heavy hand on his shoulder and pushed down. He ducked and spun (watch the ankle!) to get free and then turned to glare at them with his arms across his chest. Only then did he follow Carter's orders and sit.

Apparently not only had he missed spots, but he had failed to use the shortest setting. It was unnerving, having only an inch of hair on his head. He couldn't stop touching it on the way back to the examination table.

Lenz hovered around him, still not wanting to touch him, as Carter and Smirnov placed sticky circles attached to wires all over his head. They lead to a machine with a screen showing a bunch of lines that made no sense to him, but seemed to increase as more stickers were placed on his skull. Eventually, he was as sticker covered as he would ever be. Lenz pressed a button, and the machine started spewing out paper covered in more lines.

It was the most uninvasive thing yet. They just had him do things: read a book, watch TV, do a math (from algebra to higher level physics), and take a nap (which he was fairly sure he was drugged into taking, because he fell asleep really fast and woke up with none of the aches being knocked out produced). And then he was escorted to his room. After such attention it almost felt like abandonment. It was all very strange, but what unnerved Sam to no end was that they had been talking adamantly to each other in that foreign language the entire time. High, excited voices. The All Spark had figured more of the language out, enough to understand all the excitement had to do with his brain waves.

Well duh. Sam knew he was pretty messed up in the head. Housing a five year old girl did that to you. The question still remained though: was that harmful?

**

* * *

A/N:** Poor Sam. If only he knew everything up till now has been easy. He hasn't run into the Decepticon's yet.

**Von** asked a good question after last chapter - _"I do enjoy your all spark, though Im curious as to when/how this desire of hers came to be. In cube form she clearly wasn't making sparklings left right and centre or Sector 9 would have been drowing in them. SO what changed? Has she been affected by her vessel? Some reproductive human urge making her desire for companionship become a drive?"_ I figured there are probably a couple of more of you wondering similar things, so I figured I'd let you all know.

What changed? Nothing much actually. She had a similar personality on Cybertron, but cast into space and settling here on Earth she went into status. Her energy could be harvested, but she really didn't 'wake up' in a sense until Bee touched her and she had direct constant with something Cybertronian.

But on Cybertron, she really wasn't as active as she is now. Prime described her as semi-conscious, and that was really her top potential because she had nothing to learn from, being an isolated guarded object deemed to holy to approach on a regular basis. Until Sam.

She's always liked sparklings, creating kids, but on Cybertron she didn't have the full awareness that she could do it by herself, she had her caretakers to guide her and she followed like toddlers are wont to do. Now in Sam, her own awareness is growing. Ed was an accident, a result of so much time in the presence of All Spark energy. But she learned it could happen, something she could do on her own. She doesn't know why, only that it does, and she likes the feeling of it. So she tries to repeat it, creating Spidey and Lilith.

Of course, more time she spends with Sam, the more her consciousness evolves. Which may or may not be a good thing.

Any other questions? I'm happy to answer them. Also, I kinda need to snag myself some TF toys for Christmas gifts, and the store near me are stocked very well in such things. Do you guys have any suggestions of websites that I could browse for hours trying to find that perfect gift for a super fan?


	9. Sally

A Captured Beast Within a Human Skin

_By Uniasus_

**Chapter 9 – Sally**

* * *

Sally. He decided to call her Sally. Or rather, she had picked the name herself and Sam didn't complain. Because these past couple of days the All Spark was more expressive, more able to communicate with him. Not in terms of words, but simple emotions. Optimus had said the All Spark was a semi-conscious force, but at this point Sam was pretty sure it was fully conscious. Self aware. The whole she-bang. It didn't seem right to not give her a name, and she had some how taken an attachment to 'Sally'. At least it was a simple name.

He had now been with the Swiss for a full week. Underground, no sun. He had asked once go outside, even if it was at night, but was denied. Sam was however better taken care of than he was with the Air Force. Lenz or one of the other doctors would still perform tests on him, though today had been free from anything much more than 'do you feel any different today compared to yesterday?'. And he had a bed, better food, plus a handful of books to read.

It wasn't quite working though. He wasn't sleeping a lot. He just, didn't feel the need to lay down and close his eyes. Usually he slept a good 9 hours on weekends, when Bee let him (it hurt to think about those times and the frightening concept that they might never happen again), but now he was surviving on 4-5. The strange thing was he was never felt tired because of it. And it did mean he went through books rather quickly. And Sally made math puzzles easy to solve and greatly decreased the time needed for jigsaws. Can you say boredom?

Lenz had explained the day after the tests that Sam's brain waves were abnormal, which was expected. Apparently he ran on a higher energy level. Sam had asked what that meant but the Swiss man didn't answer and left Sam wondering just how bad the side effects were. Though it was hard to imagine what applied to normal humans applied to him.

He was constantly cold, sometimes shivering so violently he had a hard time getting out of bed. Lenz said it was a fever, but fevers he had in the past never lasted this long. It even increased to some degree he wasn't privy to up to his fourth day and than remained stagnant. He always wore a heavy coat one of the WWF guards gave him, sometimes coupled with his blanket.

It was also getting to be common for him to see things out of the corner of his eyes, dark moving shapes or flashes of lights that came from nowhere. He figured it was the fever playing with his head and ignored them, but one of them never really went away. There was a consistent bronzy-blue shape that would appear in corners, a form instead of a small blob. Sam could actually look at its fuzzy outline for half a second before it dissolved.

He didn't know how he knew, but it was Sally. Maybe. He called it such, talked to the shape, referred to it by her name out loud, and the All Spark in his mind would answer in the simple sentences it had developed to use. The guards and scientists most likely thought he was mad.

But it would pass, like all fevers did, and then he would see if Lenz was done with him, would release him to Bumblebee so he could curl on up on faux leather seats like those hellish days in college. So he could hear the soothing hum of engines, feel the slight vibrations that he associated with safety. So he could go home. And things would be normal. No fever, no shapes, a Sally he could distract with work. And a Spidey to sleep on his hip, a Lilith to talk to Bee, an Ed in the sky to watch him. No worries, just peace and clam and definitely no governments. Or Swiss chocolate.

If only the room wasn't spinning so, if his heart wasn't beating so fast, if the floor wasn't rising up to meet him, if he could only get air into his lungs…

* * *

Dr. Eric Lenz had been thrilled to find out he would be able to study HCH 01. His staff was equally thrilled, and none of them had given a thought to how it was possible, only that it was. Smirnov had developed a slight liking of the subject, but it seemed nothing more than an amusement over the banter they shared. Which was a good thing considering how abnormal the hybrid was. By all means, he should be dead.

A fever for at least seven days, maybe more, and above 50°C for at least 4 days! Most would be dead by now, but the little hybrid's lungs kept on working. Eric didn't know if that should fascinate him or terrify him.

So he focused on other things, like how HCH's brain energy level increased, probably still was increasing, but the machine had broken and couldn't be used. How is heart had developed an irregular pattern. Nothing fatal, it only skipped every eighth beat regularly, though that could change. Insomnia, a constant need to eat, and he seemed to be talking to some imaginary girl named 'Sally'.

Seizures were a new thing.

Someone had opened the door to the hybrid's room to bring lunch just as he collapsed to the floor, limbs jerking and spazzing. Carter had gotten to the scene first, holding his tongue and doing a mediocre job of preventing herself from getting hit in the face by a trashing arm. By the time Smirnov arrived, the attack had subsided to faint twitches. All in all, a side effect they had anticipated for sometime considering his operating level. His neurochemistry was going to be disrupted sooner or later.

Eric stood up, leaving Carter to check vitals, and turned to order the guard to bring in another lunch. A hiss of air quickly being sucked in made him look at Smirnov, whom the sound had come from, to the hybrid on the floor.

He was calmly looking at him, eyes open. There was something different about them; they looked younger, brighter, like the polished nose of a stature. And even on the floor HCH's posture was vastly different from what he was used to seeing, an aggressive aloofness. But now he was more open, trusting.

Hybrid tilted his head. "Sparklings now?"

Eric watched as he sprang up with the energy of a toddler and then produced to wobble a bit before steadying himself and smiling at him. It was unnerving. He couldn't help it, he crossed himself. Carter was hissing something under her breath.

Hybrid repeated the action, failing to copy the finger position and simply used his full hands. Done, he smiled. As if a child looking for praise. He didn't get any however, and the smile slowly slipped from his face into a frown.

Something caught his attention, causing hope to bloom across HCH's face. Eric looked behind him to see what could invoke such a response. But he couldn't see anything that would, just an open doorway.

A yelp from Smirnov drew his attention to the younger man. Hybrid had stuck his hand in a pocket to pull out an iPod. He cradled in to his check, eyes closed, and seemed to snuggle into it. This went on for a full five minutes of silence, broken only occasionally by hybrid humming some melody Eric didn't know.

Hybrid brought the iPod down and looked at it disappointedly. Eric didn't know what he expected, for it to grow legs? He didn't think HCH was able to do that. Everything he awakened had already been built to move. iPod's didn't.

Smirnov snatched it back, causing the hybrid to look up in surprise. He looked like was going to cry, but than his features went slack and his eyes seemed to dim. Smirnov caught him as he started to fall, laying him gently on the floor. Hybrid blinked, once, twice, and then seemed to be back to normal. He looked around, frowning when he noticed all three scientists and a couple of guards in the room.

"Something wrong?" he asked.

"You had a seizure," Eric supplied, quickly deciding to not reveal what just happened, this seemingly split personality.

The hybrid's frown deepened, only be to replaced by embarrassment as his stomach growled. The guard with the lunch tray hastily came forward.

Eric gestured for the rest of the room to clear out. He headed towards the medical room himself, Carter and Smirnov on his heels. Smirnov was poking at his iPod and shaking his head.

"I can't turn it off."

He turned around to see Carter watch the younger Swiss man struggle before asking for the device. Smirnov watched her attempt, but the also seemed unable to make it work, flipping it over questioningly.

"Even I know how to turn these off," Eric said, taking the device from her. He held down the center button. Nothing happened.

"Maybe it can't register our touch," he suggested. As if on cue, the music player gave a little click and the screen went black. "You just didn't hold it down long enough." He handed the iPod back to Smirnov who pocketed it.

"So, HCH 01," Carter began once they were in the lab. "That was new."

"Yes," Eric agreed, "I hope it happens again because I have something I'd love to try."

* * *

It did happen, and much soon than he had expected. Three days later a guard came into the lab saying he had brought the hybrid's food and it had asked for 'sparklings'. The three of them rushed down the hallway.

Hybrid was sitting on his bed looking disappointedly at his breakfast tray. When Eric and his assistants walked in, he turned toward them with childlike happiness.

"Sparklings?"

"Dr. Lenz?" Smirnov asked, looking for direction. Eric ignored him.

"Yes hybrid, we'll take you to the sparklings."

Hybrid jumped off the bed, breakfast tray falling face down on the floor, but he didn't seem to notice. He practically skipped towards Eric, singing 'sparklings' the entire time. Eric stepped back hastily and a guard appeared at the hybrid's side to grab his elbow. HCH blinked at him in confusion and then returned his gaze to Eric.

"Follow me," the scientist said, turning on his heel. He heard the others fall into step, including the guards flanking the hybrid.

Eric was guessing 'sparklings' where robots to the hybrid's rattled mind. It was quite obvious he was going insane, talking to a 'Sally' all the time. He vaguely wondered who this 'Sally' was. A girlfriend perhaps? An aunt? Co-worker? The name of a robot? He shook his head; it wasn't that important of a mystery and he doubted HCH's answer would make sense at the moment.

Across the complex were another group of scientists working on a social entrepreneurship project for the government, namely self motorized solar panels that looked like palm trees. He looked over his shoulder to glance back at the hybrid. He had stopped in front of another door, eyeing it curiously.

"Come, hybrid!" Dr. Carter snapped at him.

HCH jumped, and then scampered after them. He then proceeded to childishly chastise Carter. "No, no. Sally." He pointed to himself. "Sally. No 'hybrid'." The last word was complete with finger quotes.

Eric fully turned to scan the hybrid, who seemed to cower under his gaze. "You're telling me your name is Sally?"

Hybrid shyly nodded.

He traded a look with Smirnov, or tried to since those sunglasses always got in the way. The younger scientist simply shook his head and then indicated that Eric should continue leading them wherever they were headed.

They burst into the room unannounced, starting the two scientists who were working there.

"Hey!" one of them said as the group marched in.

"You'll want to see this," he suggested, stepping aside to reveal the hybrid. Everyone on the campus knew there was something special about the boy, seeing as how the government went to such efforts to retrieve him. The scientist paled and took a few steps back, stopping his assistant from going any further forward.

Hybrid paid then no attention, heading straight towards the small collection of five solar robots with all the glee of a five-year-old heading towards an ice cream truck. He actually giggled.

Not knowing what else to do, Eric looked around for a chair to sit in, but found the four in the room already occupied by his assistants and the scientists who worked in this lab. He turned to the nearest guard. "Go grab me a chair." The guard did as directed.

Hybrid didn't seem to have any plan; he kept running from one robot to another, playing with parts, circling them, touching them. But ever moving. He seemed to be trying to divide his equally between all of them, but about fifteen minutes into it stopped moving all together. Instead he just sat with his back resting against the center cylinder of one them, looking up at the under side of the solar panels three feet above his head. Eric had a feeling that if the things had hands, HCH would be holding them. As it was, he was absently rubbing one of the three protruding feet on wheels.

That lasted for five minutes, at which point the five solar 'petals' began twitching. Hybrid jumped up with a smile, pushed the robot over to the closet one, and then plopped down in a similar manner with his back against 1 and crossed legs propped up on a leg of 2.

Twenty minutes later, 1 was in the effort of awkwardly pushing 3 towards HCH while 2 was zooming in circles around the hybrid while he clapped. With a yawn he reached out to hug 3, which was now in front of him. 1 and 2 clamored around, waiting for their turn.

Eric stoop up, Carter and Smirnov rising as well as the guards. The solar scientists simply looked on in confusion.

Hybrid yawned again, turning to nuzzle 1.

And then Smirnov was striding forward, the needle Eric had given him earlier in his hand. He stuck it in hybrid's neck and the boy went down. One of the guards came over to pick him up and then started making his way back to HCH's room. The other scientists looked on, no doubt skeptical about the treatment of the hybrid, but Eric didn't say anything to them to ease their minds. He simply smiled, gave a small wave, and said 'thanks' as he walked through the door.

* * *

Yesterday had been boring, no new books, no new tests to ask questions about in Lenz's lab (not that they ever really gave him answers). Sally had been pretty quite, which was strange, but he wasn't complaining. Sam could tell she was happy about something, though what she wouldn't say, and he didn't question it. His fever was down, the winter coat laid ditched in the corner (though he still wore a sweater), and most of the things he saw out of the corner of his eyes was gone. Sally, of course, stayed.

Just like the day before that.

Today though? Not a good day. In fact it ranked in his Worst Five Day's Ever (one being of course the day he died, two that whole Mission City fiasco starting with meeting Barricade that was technically a couple days but he group them together, three when he realized just what exactly being placed in the Witness Protection Program at 18 would mean – no Mom, Dad, or Mikaela, four? this day, and five would have to be the time Miles forced him to go to the local roller coaster park).

It started pretty good, waking up with a long stretch to get the kinks out of his back, spending a couple of minutes working on a puzzle, and then hearing the door knock to announce breakfast.

Sam looked up to watch the guard come in with a tray of food. The guard paused, cautious _(odd)_, and asked, "Sally?"

Sally filled his mind with happiness, something along the lines of finally being addressed by name. Feeling he was missing something, Sam repeated the name slowly, "Sally?"

He meant it as a question to the guard, but the All Spark answered instead, filling his head with images. An engineering lab and then two tall silver palm trees with three legs each like a desk chair and five 'palms' of solar panels. And then another lab, followed by an image of a mechanical bull, not the ride one at parties, but one with four legs made of pistons and eyes that could zoom as well as a professional photographer's camera.

With them came such a sense of pride, of ownership, as if the images of these robots moving around were a finger painting Sally was holding up Sam saying 'look what I did Daddy!' And then Sam's horror rose up and washed it all away, forcing her to the corner of his mind. Because she had _taken over his body and woke up robots._

It was the whole body snatcher thing that made him angrier, he figured that he could only hold her back so much about sparklings but when his hold was fraying could help direct her to minimize potential problems to his body and not bring to life something dangerous. Like a military war machine…

Sally quickly confirmed only the bots she had shown him were sparklings, but Sam continued to mentally yell at her. So much could have gone wrong! Did she not know anything about responsibility, the requirements that came with activating something, the risks to themselves _and_ others?

But look! she seemed to say, bringing to the front to of his (or was it more right to say their) mind the sense of connection he (they) felt to Spidey and Lilith, and a bit towards Ed. Wasn't this a good feeling, don't you want more?

Yes. No. Yes. No.

"God and Primus frag it all Sally, you stole my fucking body! Twice!" Sam yelled out loud. He needed to do something, make sure this never happened again, but a let's-chain-Sally's-control talk/mental effort wasn't what he wanted right now. What he wanted was something to punch.

Good thing there was a guard in the room.

Sam leaped, screaming like a hellion. He knew the training he got from NEST was a good thing, it allowed him to take out anyone without formal training and against those who did hold out long enough until someone could help him. But there was no Bumblebee here, no Lennox, no Airman Stacy even.

He got creamed, hands down.

Sam didn't mind the pain, the blood. It felt good, getting into a fight. Sally was crying, trying to get away from the rage Sam was projecting, confused as to what was going on but very aware it was her fault somehow.

When Lenz and the other scientist's arrived, the guard had Sam pressed up again the floor, knee in his back as he struggled to cough up blood. His right arm was broken, painfully so, bone sticking out through flesh. Sam grinned a bloody, malice grin at Lenz.

"You're never getting me to do that again." He hissed. Sam doubted he was a very frightening figure, obviously beaten, but still Lenz stepped back into Carter and Smirnov. Carter turned her eyes from him.

With a grunt, the guard brought Sam to his feet. He staggered, just getting his feet under him before he was shoved forward.

"Take him to hospital," he heard Smirnov say, "but knock him out before you leave."


	10. Water and Ice are the Same Thing

A Captured Beast Within a Human Skin

_By Uniasus_**  
**

**Chapter 10 – Water and Ice are the Same Thing**

**(Takes place shortly after 6, so in the beginning of Sam's time with the Swiss)**

* * *

The Law of Conservation. The Law of Equality. The Law of Equivalent Exchange. The Law of Balance. The Law of Rejuvenation. The Energy Cycle. Recycling. The Natural Balance. Transformation.

Different planets, different cultures, had different names for it, but most sentients discovered this rule of the universe. Energy doesn't just disappear, it changes, converts, but it's always there. But there was one type that never changed too much, was relatively constant.

Spark energy.

There was nothing quite like it in the universe, just like there would never be a Seeker quite like him. When a spark extinguished it went to the Well of Sparks; the energy of that spark may be dispersed to mix with other spark energy, or it may remain together, but it never became anything else then spark energy.

So it only made sense that the All Spark would follow those same rules. After all, what was it but a channel to the Well? Spark energy itself that directed energy in the Well into bodies and vice versa.

So Starscream was sure the All Spark still existed. Its form may have changed yes, its signal could be suppressed, but it was out there. Or rather, on there. Because he was sure it was still on Earth, if it left its energy signature would have been picked up.

He had a feeling the Autobots knew where it was, they were in league with the nation with the largest army, a rather Deception move to ally with those with power as opposed to morals, but Starscream figured convenience factored in too. The United States of America was where they crashed, where those most hated of meatbags lived, where the All Spark had been kept, and his leader too. It was a good military move, something the Autobots picked up from war.

But it meant that the All Spark was surely still being kept on American soil, being kept tabs on. And the military defense net had been so amateurish, so primitive. It shouldn't be any problem to penetrate it again, albeit more subtly than Frenzy was capable of.

But what he was looking for wasn't there.

He tried searching for All Spark, and as expected there was no information on its present location. The humans didn't know the name of what they held and called the artifact but the very imaginative name "The Cube". Although his kind used a similar term, if only to describe the All Spark's current form. It had been many things before.

A search query with the meatbag term had been more successful, but all the files were old, on ghost servers Sector 7 had control of. They described the experiments that had been done with the All Spark radiation, but Starscream learned nothing new. Nothing he found was less than six years old, all of it being prior to Egypt.

If the military knew anything, they were being smart, hiding information from all Cybertronians. He wondered if Prime knew; probably not, too trusting in weak alliances with the natives. How such a species survived escaped him, they were fragile. Very squishy. His second favorite type of victim, his first was those that crunched when stepped on.

If the defense network was useless, maybe the intelligence network would be useful.

It was, not much, but enough to make a difference. The fleshbag who had taken out Megatron, only to fail to do it again was living under a new name, a new address. And he had been given his own acronym, HCH 01, by a science division of the FBI. Not as catchy as NBE, but it held so much more potential.

Human Cybertronian Hybrid.

It was theorized, not proven, that the human was such a thing, had absorbed the All Spark. But records of him, from accelerated learning and degree achievement to daily habits, were kept. It was enough to suggest the possibility, but nothing more.

A possibility was all he needed, was all that kept him going. It was _possible_ that his next attempt at defeating Megatron would work, it was _possible_ that they would win the war. And knowing a possibility, acting on one, would increase the chance of certainty, in either direction. At the moment, Sam Witwicky was and wasn't what he was looking for, and Starscream needed to find out one-way or another.

The address he flew too was empty. Had been for days. There were piles of paper in the driveway and a scan of the interior had revealed food past the expiration date. Which meant he had to scare up information from an Autobot. One easy to corner, one who had difficultly telling a lie, who knew about the All Spark. And considering those on Earth, two possibilities entered his processor: Kickback and Wheeljack.

It ended up being Wheeljack. Kickback was traveling with Long Arm towards the East Coast, and he didn't want to bother with a second Autobot. Yes, the engineer hid out in the Autobot's base, but he couldn't stay there forever. Everyone got leave, went out to explore the nearby city. Something as populated as Las Vegas was sure to entice Wheeljack out.

Starscream jumped him on the barren road leading to base as Wheeljack was on his way back, just out of range from the NEST base. He fell from the sky, the engineer managing to roll out of the way and transform just in time to prevent a thruster landing on his hood.

"Starscream!"

The seeker mimicked the declaration in his processor. Of course it was him! No need to state the obvious. He pointed a null ray at the engineer. Wheeljack stopped unsubspacing his own weapon and froze.

"Where's the All Spark? I know you guys know where he is!"

Wheeljack shuttered his optics and then sent a questioning look at him.

"He? Starscream, the All Spark isn't sentient enough to pick a gender."

Autobots, always so insolent. Starscream sneered and decided to deliver a good old fashioned attack; he punched the engineer in face. Wheeljack gave into the strike with a roll, bringing up his rocket launcher and firing a shot off. Starscream avoided it, diving to the side and transforming to fly straight into the engineer and then returning to his root mode to straddle Wheeljack and deliver another punch. He stood up, pointing both of his charged null rays at the Autobot's chest.

"Don't lie Autobot. Even this country's government knows about that human's absorption of All Spark. Where. Is. He?" He shot the ground next to Wheeljack's head, delighting in the wince on the engineer's face at the heat and debris.

"I'm not telling you a thing about Sam!"

"Doesn't matter, I'll find him eventually. I was just hopping you could speed the process along."

The sound of jets in the distance put him on high alert, backup for the Autoscum at his feet. Starscream fired his weapons, the engineer going slack underneath him. He could stay and fight, show the lousy meat pilots what a seeker was truly capable of, but it lacked a point. He and the humans already knew he was a better flyer. Plus he was nowhere near completing his goal, or the task Megatron sent him back to the planet for in the first place. With one last sneer at Wheeljack, he transformed and flew away.

Wheeljack watched him go, confused at why Starscream thought Sam _was_ the All Spark. It had affected him, sure, Ratchet had run so many tests to cover what exactly it was doing to the boy. But nothing damaging, nothing reminiscent of the All Spark itself. Just knowledge, no ability at all similar to what the All Spark was capable of doing.

But knowing that Starscream was looking for Sam sent him on edge. He had thought the human was being used as a bargaining chip for the Decepticons, Sam for information Prime wasn't giving out. Apparently that wasn't true, which meant he had been taken for something else. Starscream pretty much confirmed that the government was in on it, that they knew something, but Sideswipe hadn't been able to find anything in the military network. And now, Sam wasn't even in the country, he had been taken by another.

There was the distinct sound of a transformation and Wheeljack found himself looking into Jolt's worried faceplates.

"Wheeljack! Are you okay?"

::Starscream got me with his null rays, both of them:: He was frozen, unable to move.

"Got in a couple of punches too by the looks of things. Did you get him back?"

::No, unfortunately::

"Well, it'll wear off soon enough and then we can head back to base."

Wheeljack here the sound of jeeps and jets returning to the base, a single squad of soldiers staying behind for back up if it was needed.

::Think you can get a message to Prime::

"Sure, once we get back. Did Starscream say something?"

::He knows something, something about Sam, that we don't. But the US government and who ever took him knows too. Sideswipe needs to check out other networks::

Jolt frowned, but nodded. "We can't do much else anyway, not until we know where Sam was taken. I hope he's alight."

::Me too::

**A/N: **I'm sure several of you pretty much died of shock when you saw updates for this in your inboxes. I figured my own troubles with editing should really hamper your reading of this, especially as the fic is finished. So, I'll be posting new chapters up, but will also eventually repost an edited version of this story. Hope you enjoyed these two new chapters! (I replaced 9, in case you missed that)**  
**


	11. Killing What You Can't Control

A Captured Beast Within a Human Skin

_By Uniasus_**  
**

**Chapter 11 –** **Killing What You Can't Control**

Sam woke to a bright harsh light, causing him to squint his eyes. He tried to bring his right arm to cover his face, but it was heavy and restrained, not moving. So he gave up, closed his eyes, and tried to figure out what had happened.

Sally helped him, explained things in fuzzy images and little bits of thoughts. She didn't always sleep when he did it seemed.

The guards had drugged him, brought him to wherever he was now, a place that was full of beeps and strange people in uniforms and the harsh light and lots and lots of needles. Hospital, he told her, it's called a hospital. It's where human medics work.

Where we wait for parts? she asked. Sam shock his head, wincing at the pain it brought. No, humans don't get parts replaced, we grow them. Can you always grow them? No. Then what happens? We go offline. What's offline? When…a spark disappears. But sparks never disappear, just move. When they no longer have a body then. Oh.

Sally mulled the thought over, Sam slightly taken back by her lack of knowledge about death. But it made sense, a being in charge of transporting souls, or sparks, from one plane to the other she probably didn't even think about death, just change. It was…a rather nice outlook.

Does it take long to grow parts? Sally asked, picking up on the dropped thread. Depends on the part, depends on the human. Take us long? I don't know, maybe.

She retreated to that corner of his mind she had claimed. He wanted to talk to her, yell at her for what she did, but laying in a hospital bed and staring at the ceiling Sam didn't feel up to it. It would require him to bring up things he would rather not, explain why it was a bad thing, and he wasn't too sure Sally would understand that. She got that it was bad, that it made him angry and she shouldn't do it again, and at the moment that was all Sam could ask for. He was too tired to care much at this point.

He didn't know how long he stared at the spotted ceiling, making dot constellations of Autobot silhouettes, but eventually he became aware of the fact his butt was going numb. Sam tried shifting, propping himself up a bit to maybe look around the room, but came short when he felt resistance.

There were straps keeping him down.

One per ankle, one per wrist, the one on his right over the cast for his broken arm. Now that he knew they were there he could feel them, loose enough to be comfortable but taunt enough against the bed so he couldn't move much.

Well, that wouldn't do. A hospital, not the lab Lenz worked out of, meant civilization and the best chance yet of escaping, hiding, and contacting the Bots. Sam struggled, rotating between pulling at his legs and left arm. He grunted, swore, was surprised no one came into to see what the commotion was, but ultimately had to collapse back in the bed with nothing to show for his efforts aside from red skin and dents from the bindings digging into his wrist and ankles.

Help? Sally offered tentatively. I don't think you can, he sent back bitterly, you don't have hands. But maybe they can.

The beeping that had retreated to the background represented itself, and with it the knowledge that they were monitoring machines. He had failed to notice the sticky patches on his chest and head under his scrubs, used to the sensation from his time with Lenz and the other doctors. The devices monitoring his various biorhythms, maybe they could help, at least free his left hand so he could free himself.

Sparklings? Sally asked, hopeful. Sam hesitated. It was a bad, bad idea, giving life just so he would escape. He didn't want to _use_ sparklings, he wanted them to have a good life and here wasn't the place for it. But before all that could happen he need to get out of her. So he gave his consent and put all his energy into waking a machine a quickly as possible. His vision went blue and then he found himself sagging heavily into the bed, exhausted. Closing his eyes for a few minutes, catching his breath, was something he could afford for a little bit surly.

* * *

He overslept, if the shouting next to his room was anything to go by. But the absence of beeping was telling in and of itself.

"Five, five! of those robots attacked hospital staff and the power went out wing wide for a minute, resulting in three deaths in the ICU below us. I thought you told me this wouldn't happen Lenz! That it took time for anything to show! He awakened five robots and knocked out the power in less than a minute!"

"Its not my fault! HCH 01 is unstable, who knows what he is capable of? I wanted to move him as soon as we could! But the hospital refused to release him! Isn't that your job, to take care of things like this?"

"You could have smuggled him out! The fact that he is here is supposed to be a secret, you shouldn't had even brought him here!"

"Well, I would have had the supplies to set and cast his arm myself if your soldiers would stop getting hurt during training exercises."

Sam didn't know who the person arguing with Lenz was, but he was an officer for sure. It sounded like his chance to escape had slipped by him, disrupting the hospital affairs. There was no longer any type of machine in his room, just the bed, not with heavy-duty belts stretching across his entire body. The lack of remains of his old restraints was a small concession, proof his (our) plan had worked to some extent.

"Report!"

"Sir, we've managed to take out one of the robots, but the other four have gotten away. We're still looking."

"I want them found!" the officer barked, and Sam listened while the solider marched away.

So hope wasn't completely lost, four of his (our) sparklings were still out there, maybe in the hospital. He was just bound to his bed like a mental patient and…understanding German?

Puzzle solved! Sally chimed and Sam couldn't help but smile. He had (was) his own personal bablefish.

"Those robots are dangerous," the officer continued, "and so is that…thing. He's out of your hands, your project is _over_."

"But what of the glory of Switzerland? Proving we are not cowards who hide behind inaction, to be acknowledged throughout the world as something other than where watches are made," Lenz snarled. "The hybrid can help use get there! This is proof of his powers."

"Powers, Doctor Lenz, that you cannot control."

"Just give me time!" Lenz shouted, most likely to a receding back.

Sam held his breath, expecting the Swiss scientist to walk through his door, but it remained shut and he emptied his lungs. Sparklings will help, Sally sent, bouncing with happiness. We can grow parts outside, yes? Yes, but first we have to _get_ outside. Window. And drop a couple of stories? I can't grow that many parts. So, we sneak out ground door? Sounds good, and we need food. I'm starving. And pain meds. Lots of lots of pain meds. Why? There's no pain now. There will be, trust me. Pain is…bad? Yes. It means I can't function properly.

Sally retreated and Sam started trying to figure out if he could wiggle his way from the straps, but it proved too much. He slammed his head back into the pillow in frustration.

A scratching sound made him look up and a sense of achievement and possession rushed through his body. On of the ceiling panels moved to reveal the form of one of the sparklings. It was a heart rate monitor, with the screen displaying 'searching…searching…FOUND!'. The last word shouting from the screen as soon as it made eye/optic contact with him. Not that Sam was sure how he knew that, for the sparkling lacked optics to begin with.

It dropped to the floor and landed in an awkward crouch; while not a full transformer Sally seemed to have given it joints so it could bend its four short legs and tall single strut. After a quick look towards the ground to check if anyone was coming in to check at the noise, it approached the bed and examined the restraints.

"If you can't undo them, just get out of here!" Sam hissed. The sparkling seemed to ignore him and jumped up on the bed. Sam tensed, expecting to be landed on, but the heart monitor avoided landing on his legs. Due to a lack of arms it started working at the belts with its feet which Sam could now see had three fingers each.

This close to a sparkling, Sally was squirming with happiness and Sam couldn't help but feel joyful as well. Because that sparkling was _his, theirs_. And there was some type of connection that came with that which lifted his spirits and made him feel just a little bit tipsy on an odd sort of feeling that felt like a little bit like love, but not of a variety he knew.

There was the sound of booted feet tramping down the hallway and Sam did his best to buck his legs and get the sparkling's attention. "You have to leave! If they find you they're going to kill you."

'Help Creator' scrolled across the monitor when the heart monitor turned to look at him before focusing back on it task.

"You can't help me if you're dead, please, leave!"

The door burst open and in flowed four soldiers. On seeing the mech on Sam's bed, they all brought their guns up and pointed at it.

"No!" Sam shouted, just as the sparkling jumped up towards the air vent. A pair of metal arms belonging to another sparkling caught him and pulled the monitor up. Sam watched the heart monitor disappear into the duct with a sense of relief. His heart sped up when the other mech, a TV, revealed itself. It was going to get shot! The TV played a short clip, of the Terminator saying 'I'll be back' before it disappeared and the sound of clanking sounded through the ceiling moving across the hallway. Was it wrong of Sam to smile at that?

Of course, the lack of a mechanical target meant that four guns were now pointing at him. Sam would have put his hands if he could, but the sparkling hadn't even freed his legs, let alone his arms. Someone of rank strode through the door and stopped in the center of the soldiers. He didn't say a word, just looked Sam over and diminished him. He jerked his head and another two soldiers appeared and started working at the bindings.

Once free, Sam was jerked to his feet and roughly pushed forward.

"Easy!" Sam hissed, "I was in the hospital for a reason you know!"

His reply was a gun butt to the small of back and Sam stumbled forward. Sparklings will help, Sally said, but Sam didn't want them too. He wanted them to stay put, stay underground and not come out. As their mother (he would say father, but he kinda gave birth to them), he wanted them all safe! But Sally just seemed to want them to come bursting around a corner and save the day. Sam tried to talk her into worrying about the sparklings' well-being, but she couldn't see how anyone could be more important than her. She was Sally! The All Spark! Everyone should protect her, not her protect anyone else! Where were her saviors?

Sam blinked as he was led outside, the sun brighter than he thought it would be. Then again, when was the last time he had seen it? Looking around, he figured he was in the back of the hospital. There looked to be an employee parking lot across a service drive. The soldiers forced him to walk along the building and when they came to an alley pushed him down it. For an alley it was pretty clean, the garbage bins were graffiti free and there wasn't any over flow on the ground.

The six soldiers and commanding officer filtered in behind him, cutting off his escape. Sally went quite and Sam turned to face the Swiss army men. The sun, once really bright, seemed to disappear and he felt himself good cold. Six guns were pointed straight at him.

"Turn around," the CO barked.

"Why?"

"Turn around!"

Sam closed his eyes. This was not how he imagined going. It was either old age, or being discovered by a Decepticon and squashed. But a gun squad? The thought had never crossed his mind. He opened his eyes and looked at the CO.

"No."

The officer narrowed his eyes. Sam stood up straighter. "Fire!"

The bullets ricocheted off metal plates because suddenly there was a Cybertronian between him and the soldiers. But it wasn't Bee. Or Prime. Or Ironhide. Or any other Autobot. It was a Decepticon not much taller than a human, with six legs and a stinger tail. Scorponok.

"Shit." He breathed, looking behind him for a door. There was a grey service one, but it was locked by a key code. He could hack it, no problem, but he didn't have tools! And trying possible combinations would take to long. In frustration, he yanked at the handle, slammed his fist on the door. But it didn't open.

He gave a yelp as a tail of metal wrapped around his midriff and yanked him backward. The ground fell away beneath him as Scorponok lifted him up to hold him above the Con's back. Sam saw four bodies lying still on the ground, blood pulling underneath them. The other three bodies had been torn apart, parts scattered around Scorponok. There looked to be an arm caught behind the Con's neck, the fingers caught between neck plates. Sam would have vomited if there was anything in his stomach.

Scorponok leaped and gripped the bricks on the side of the building with his legs. They grasped for a good hold, sending bricks down where they shattered on the ground of the alleyway, before digging in deeply and starting to climb. From the roof of the hospital Sam could see what looked like a small western city. There weren't too many people walking around, meaning there was less of a change of being seen. Which was disappointing, as it reduced his chance of being rescued.

He really, really just want to be home.

Scorponok scuttled back to the edge of the rooftop and then ran forward. The Con leaped and Sam followed behind like a balloon tied to a kid's wrist, Scorponok's tail stretched out behind him. With a thud, they landed on the roof of a building two away.

After about a few minutes of building hopping, Scorponok dropped down to ground level and scuttled along a service road. After a full hour of traveling, Sam hanging relatively stable as Scorponok moved, the Con slowed down and entered a clearing.

Where a very familiar police car was sitting.

* * *

Their search was going nowhere. They knew Sam wasn't within the borders of the Untied States, that he had been taken by another country, but from there the trail went cold. And on top of that, Wheeljack had reported that Starscream was also looking for the engineer, saying not only did Sam have the knowledge of the All Spark, but it's abilities too. Bee was worried, strongly so, to the point where it was a constant tight band around his spark.

They had taken the first freight flight they could, had been loaded into the cargo hold of a plane taking off for Amsterdam. From there they had split up, running on the information that the person who had taken Sam out of the country spoke a Germanic language. Which, really, wasn't much to go on.

Bumblebee had been assigned the south end of Germany and Austria. It was a tense drive, with his scanners constantly stretched out as far as they could be and a continuous monitoring of the airwaves. He couldn't decide to go fast or slow; Sam could be someplace in danger, but there was also the idea that information on the human would only come to light after he had left a region.

Spidey, still riding along in his cup holder, couldn't help him much either. He provided an empty sort of comfort, there to keep him from being alone but at the same time reminding him of who he'd rather talk to. Not that Spidey could really talk. The spider-bot found the best YouTube videos though.

Bumblebee was about to cross over the border into Austria when he picked up a signal that caused him to pull over. It was weak, but due to distance and not the strength of the source. And there was something familiar about the energy signature…

Spidey, for all useless he was at picking up far off signals compared to the cybertronian, also seemed to sense it. He scurried out of the cup holder and up his passenger side door to tap on the window, the direction the signal had come from.

Bee teetered, unsure as to whether he should investigate or not. But Austria was such a long shot as to be the country that had taken Sam. Granted, so was Switzerland, the direction the signal was coming from. Still, the thought of veering from the path he had been told to follow made him on edge.

"What do you think Spidey?" He needed a second opinion to balance out his processor.

GO! The little bot responded, tapping a couple of times on the window.

Usually, he made decisions based on the pro/con list his processor constructed. In this case it was telling him to ignore the signal; note it for another time, but for now continue through Austria. But something naggled at his processor, some…feeling that told him to turn west. It was illogical, it was emotional, it was –human.

Bee wondered if this is what Sam meant by his 'gut feeling', a strange ability the human shared with others of his species that ended up being right more often than wrong. He didn't question his ability to develop such a thing; it simply had to be Sam rubbing off on him, before turning around and heading for the Swiss Alps.

It had been hard to track the signal, but as he got further into Switzerland he picked up a weak news broadcast about a hospital loosing power mysteriously. Bee gunned his engines and raced ahead.

* * *

**A/N: **As proof as how much I read and internalize your reviews, I added Spidey to this chapter. He wasn't in it originally, but seeing as how a number of you liked him I figured I might be murdered if I didn't add him in where I could. 

Like I mentioned previously, this is the unbeta'd version of this story and it's really from this chapter and onward that things are rough. I'd love any additional input you guys may have, in addition to what my beta tells me. More voices gives me an accurate view of what works and what doesn't for most readers.

Also, in a dA style I've decided to hold a review kiriban. My dA account isn't active enough to warrant one, so I'm doing it here on where I spend most of my time. The prize goes to whoever write the 800th review to _any_ of my stories. More details on my profile.

I grow more and more attached to Sally every time I write for this. Though she is a bit odd for wanting to do nothing but create babies :/**  
**


	12. Family

A Captured Beast Within a Human Skin

_By Uniasus_

**Chapter 12 - Family**

* * *

The ride was quite. For the most part. Sam had screamed so much throughout the first day that he lost his voice and even a few days later his voice still sounded like a raspy whisper and it would go out at random times, leaving Sam mouthing the words.

Not that he was in much of a condition to talk much (or had pleasurable company). He was sick again, like he had been in the lab. He had a killer headache, was always shivering, and found it hard to concentrate on things. Barricade was being nice for some reason, telling Scorponok to fetch things like canned soup, blankets, and warm clothes. Sally was back in his field of vision, as were various other black shapes. He kept ducking, thinking it was one of the Decepticons finally attacking him, but it was always just a hallucination. Sam had had more seizures too, two at least by his count, but Sally never took over. She learned her lesson from last time. There never was any reason to anyway; there wasn't anything around that could be used to create a sparkling. He was inside Barricade for the most part as the Con drove.

Sam ate a lot too, was constantly hungry. Sometimes when a bad shiver hit him, his hands would slip and instead of the soup going from can to mouth, it landed on his shirt. But Sam didn't care, Sally didn't care, and the Cybertronians certainly didn't. And the fact that his mind was playing tricks on him, turning cans into piles of cookies and potted plants? They didn't care about that either, and Sally just found it funny.

As it was, he couldn't travel on his own. Open doorways ended up being metal poles, and he was pretty sure the old Western Saloon a day back wasn't real, if only because he didn't think they existed in Switzerland. If he still was in Switzerland. He kept asking Sally for advice on what was real; she had become more solid, more real as the time went on, human shaped but certainly not human with her bronze skin, electric blue eyes and matching hair. She liked to wear a pink dress of such a vibrant color Sam couldn't tell if clashed with her appearance or not.

He didn't walk, was either carried by Scorponok in a variety of ways or simply laid on the back seat of Barricade's car. That was his favorite actually, because it was so easy to tell what was real and what wasn't when he knew what he was supposed to be seeing. And the Cons had a lot longer legs that Sam, so they could travel faster either on foot or via road. For all he knew, he was in Russia right now. Or India. Or hell, maybe just one mountain away from the Swiss military base.

But Sam didn't care. He felt too miserable to do anything other than focusing on trying to get his headache to go away, control his tremors, and figure out what in the world he was actually seeing. He followed Barricade's orders like a drone, because he couldn't think of anything else to do, didn't want to put the effort into it.

Scorponok wasn't capable of speech, even in Cybertronian he only made sounds and half words similar to a human baby's babbling. And Barricade didn't really talk much, aside from giving directions and asking questions about his well-being. That was really weird, having the Decepticon be nice to him. Sally found it to be as things should be.

Sam paused, hand still in his bag of chips (cuz he was always eating, always and yet so thin) while he contemplated the large circus tent in front of him.

"You see that Sally? We're going to the circus. I bet you haven't seen an elephant before. Or a clown."

Sally shook her head, pigtail braids swinging.

There was the rumble he attributed to Barricade's footsteps, and suddenly the cop was next to the tent, a couple of trapeze artists on his shoulders. "It's a plane. Get in."

Sam gave a long blink and the tent washed away, the red and white melting to a dull gray as the opening was revealed to be the entrance to a plane's cargo hold. Barricade was indeed standing next to it, but instead of girls in sparkly costumes, his shoulders were draped in the largest canvas bags Sam had ever seen.

He blinked again, not quite understanding.

"Get in."

There was a nudge at his back, the end of Scorponok's tail, and he moved forward at the shuffling, lopsided step he'd developed since being taken from the hospital, still eat the chips. His cast was greasy. It was dirty too. He wondered if it was time for it to come off. How long he'd been gone. But the thoughts just drifted through his mind, too wispy to do anything with and so they scooted along for the next one and disappeared.

The inside of the plane was bare, no first class seats in the underbelly. Gray walls, brown boxes, and what looked like a pile of dirty laundry in a corner. But it was the softest thing around so Sam made a bee-line for it and collapsed in the center, not willing to do much more than sit there for the duration of the flight to who knows where. Do nothing but eat, sleep, and shiver.

His chips were gone, he noticed sadly, but then more bags appeared at his side and went to work on opening one. Questioning the food was a bad idea, it might stop coming.

It was dark in the plane; Sam didn't think people were normally supposed to be there so there weren't any light bulbs. When the floor started vibrating, Barricade opened a door to his back seat.

"Get in."

He grabbed four bags of chips and did as the evil police car said. The door closed with a click, and for the duration of the plane flight Sam found himself inside the Decepticon. Sam couldn't see Scorponok, Barricade's headlights weren't on, but he could hear the other Cybertronian scuttling around for a little bit before stopping. He probably got bored, there wasn't much to explore.

Sam drifted off, woke up to find himself at the head of a Thanksgiving dinner table and Sally at the end, went back into lala land, and woke up a second time to the sudden stream of light through Barricade's window. He stayed down on the seat for a while, running his finger over the fuzzy caterpillar on the floor, but when his stomach growled he sat up and started looking for something to eat. His chips were gone but Barricade adjusted his back seat and a hole into the trunk appeared. Sam stuck his hand in, never choosy, and grabbed a large bag of beef jerky and a ten-pack of apple juice boxes packaged together. He wondered if the cop had simply emptied out a Sam's Club.

Sipping on a straw, Sam looked out of the window. Tall buildings. Lots of people walking around. Bikes. And they were all Asian.

"Hey Sally, did you know this is my first time to China?" Yes, my first time too. "Figured. They eat a lot of rice here, you know." Does it taste good? "Yes."

"Japan." Barricade edged in. "We're in Japan, not China."

"We haven't been here before either."

The Saleen didn't say anything, and Sam continued to watch people through the windows.

Eventually, the buildings started to shrink and the people disappear. They were driving along a harbor, docks where huge freighters were kept and sheds were waiting to be filled with or emptied of crates. Barricade kept driving, and the docks became empty, the buildings smaller, more rust covered.

Sally was excited about something, she kept repeating the word sparklings, but Sam was still confused until Barricade pulled into an empty dock building and commanded him out.

There were sparklings in the shed. Three of them, and his Grandma Jonnie. No, four. No…three sparklings and a fourth mech who was only about eight feet high. But it looked liked his Grammy. Sometimes. From an angle. It must be the face.

Sally was jumping up and down, excited to see the sparklings, and taking a measured look Sam could see why. They were the sparklings she had awakened in Mission City; unplanned and sadly retarded.

The lack of a connection to them startled him; Sam was so used to feeling it from the other sparklings, expecting it, that the lack forced all his bodily ills from his mind for a moment. He was reaching, actively, not just letting the connection hum in a relaxed manner between them, but there was barely any response. And what he did get was wrong as a Taco Bell smelling like Panda Express. It stung at first, like chewing foil, but faded to a dull ache he was wishing would go away.

The short mech hurdled the sparklings towards Sam and Barricade walked around to be behind them all, looking like a chicken girl herding her wares into a pen. But he was gentle, guiding, and Sam got the sudden understanding that Barricade was taking care of all them, as well as he could. Scorponok just curled up like a cat in a corner.

The sparklings clustered together, a Mountain Dew machine, an X-Box, and car Sam couldn't tell the model of since the sparkling was upright. There was something wrong with them, and suddenly he knew what. There was no connection, because they didn't have the full spark to form a connection with. No spark, no bond.

Sam rubbed his chest with his casted hand. He had a spark? But like all previous thoughts that should have been given more attention, it faded away because he's mind couldn't handle it. What mattered was the sparklings, something Sally was constantly nagging him about. Fix, fix, fix, fix, she said, jumping from one sparkling to another.

"Can you help them?" Barricade asked.

Sally had her hands on the DewBot's side, nuzzling the plating. "Yeah," He said.

Beachbreak had spent a long time at the bottom of that waterfall in Zambia, waiting. Waiting, for nothing. He had tumbled over the edge of the waterfall at the end of battle, crashed into the rocks below, and washed to shore not far from where the turbulent water calmed down. His systems had taken quite a beating, one leg was useless, the force of the water had ripped out lines and then water mixed with his fluids to wreck havoc throughout his body. Comm line, ID beacon, all knocked off line. But it was okay. His fellow Autobots would come and look for him, make their way down the side and assist him to a location where he could heal.

They never came.

Never even looked over the edge of the waterfall he had helped save Prime himself from going over.

He lay there for months, sinking into the mud all by himself. No humans came by. No Cybertronians, the NEST team had chased off the Decepticons, and why would the Autobots come back now? And since he couldn't move slowly resigned himself to be stuck here on Earth for the remainder of the planet's life.

And then Barricade showed up on the other side of the river.

They had stared at each other, Beachbreak covered in mud and broken, Barricade clean and whole, and then the Mustang just turned around and walked away, leaving a perfect target, if not whole, at least untouched. For a while anyway, because three hours later Barricade showed up behind him. Beachbreak hadn't known he was there until the cop kneeled next to him and started scooping away the mud.

"What are you doing?"

"How long have you been here?"

They stared at each other until Beachbreak looked away. "A couple of months."

The Con grunted, but went back to digging. It took awhile, but eventually Beachbreak was no longer in danger of being swallowed by mud and was leaning back against a tree.

"I don't need your help." He directed the comment at Barricade, but looked out towards the waterfall. The Mustang didn't answer, just continued to work on Beachbreak's damaged leg.

"The Autobots will be here soon, so you better leave."

Barricade continued pounding out dents.

"That means you have no use."

The Con stopped. "Is that what you think, why they abandoned you?"

Beachbreak flinched, the only acknowledgement he was going to give towards thinking the thought.

"I did too," Barricade said lowly before returning his attention to Beachbreak's leg. The Autobot turned his head to watch the Decepticon work. Despite being at least half the size of Barricade, the cop seemed to have no trouble working with the smaller parts.

"Are you a medic?" he asked, but Barricade shook his head.

"I did a lot of solo missions, and when I was given my first partner he was always getting into things he shouldn't have had. He was smaller than you." The police car closed a leg panel. "That's all I can do here, without spare parts. Can you transform? It would be easier I think than you trying to fit in my cab."

Was it wrong he didn't have a single doubt about getting into this particular Decepticon? "Yes, but my alt's a jet ski and you don't have a holder on your roof."

"You'll fit in the trunk, if I keep it open."

Beachbreak still didn't know why Barricade was there that day, but he was grateful for the help. For the sense of belonging that suddenly seemed a whole lot truer than before.

He never left, thought he could have at any moment. The half-sparked sparklings Barricade had collected, Fizz, Dagger, and Dundee, needed help. They weren't fully aware of their surroundings, prone to just staring at walls and didn't seem to know when their systems needed fuel. They needed Beachbreak to feed them, look after them. He couldn't abandon them, not such sweet things. And Barricade's new partner, Scorponok, was so gentle it was hard not to like him. They were a family unit, of a sort. He was the caretaker, looking after the sparklings while Barricade went out for supplies: fuel they could use, or at least convert, parts, news, a new home as they could never stay long for fear of discovery. This time, Barricade said he had found something that could help the sparklings.

Beachbreak was excited at the prospect, if confused. He didn't think there was anything on Earth that had that power, not any more. Maybe not on Cybertron either.

So he was surprised to see Barricade bring in Samuel Witwicky. Beachbreak had never met the boy, but had heard a lot about him, read his file, and had be taken in by the teen's courage. The human was Bumblebee's charge and Beachbreak found himself looking towards the shed's door for his friend. But Bee didn't show up, and Beachbreak had to wonder if Cade had taken Samuel from the scout.

Beachbreak turned his attention to the human himself and was surprised at Samuel's condition. He was scruffy, his clothes were filthy, and he seemed wired, looking from one place to another. Samuel was trembling too, apparently from cold besides the two sizes too large down coat he was wearing. There was a cast on his right arm too. Beachbreak scanned the human's vitals, and the results were troubling. Nothing was stable: heartbeat, respiratory rate, neurochemistry.

::He needs to be in hospital Cade!:: Beachbreak sent over the comms.

::Scorponok rescued him from one. They had a firing squad ready to shoot him down::

Pause.

::You're bringing the entire fraction of the Autobots on our afts by brining him here::

::Maybe. If they show up, their welcome to have him. I couldn't just leave him there BB, he was countries away from where he was supposed to be and he needed help. He hasn't put up a fight the entire trip here::

Beachbreak acknowledged the point. He would have done the same thing, despite his desire to stay out of sight. ::I thought you said you'd bring back something to help the sparklings::

Cade bobbed his head in the direction of Samuel and walked towards Beachbreak. ::They wanted to kill him, because he can create sparklings::

::An organic absorbed the All Spark?:: He was already shepherding the sparklings towards Samuel.

::Maybe::

Beachbreak watched apprehensively as Samuel approached the sparkling, heading towards Fizz first. The green mech wasn't paying attention to the human, none of them were that aware of their surroundings. Fizz was hunched over, but still taller than Samuel by over a foot. When the vending machine stood up to his full height, he was taller than Beachbreak by half a head.

Samuel lightly placed a hand on Fizz's side and the sparkling turned to look at him. But the human didn't return the glance; instead he looked to his left. "Sally?" he asked, looking for an opinion. But there wasn't anyone there.

Beachbreak shot a look at Cade, who rolled his shoulders backwards in an expression of indifference.

::He talks to her all the time, but I've never seen her::

::Is she even real?:: Last he checked, Samuel was involved with someone named Mikaela.

::No clue::

::So the All Spark's crazy::

Cade didn't respond and Beachbreak mentally cursed.

Samuel was not doing much, he had sunk to the ground and was sitting crossed legged with his back against Fizz's foot. Dagger had crawled forward on his four legs and had settled into the human's lap, legs hanging over Samuel's thighs. The human was petting the X-Box's back plates and Dagger was emitting an electronic hum. Dundee was just looking at Samuel, actually seeing him, and not simply looking in the same direction. As Beachbreak watched, the sparkling first knelt, and then laid down on his front with a hand stretched towards Samuel to hesitantly touch the human's hair. Samuel leaned into the touch, rubbing his face into the fingertip.

The all looked to be in some sort of trance, which was more than a little discouraging in Beachbreak's point of view. And maybe he was a little jealous too, the sparklings had never really seemed that aware of him. Curious as to what was going on, the mech scanned Samuel again. He was surprised to see the fever he had detected earlier was lessoning, as were the tremors that had been a side effect. The biggest concern of note though was the slow steadying of his biorhythms. Ratchet would be having a field day.

The four of them stayed that way for a good hour. Beachbreak and Cade had retreated towards Scorponok's corner and the scorpion reveled in the company. They kept sending glances towards the other side of the shed, checking up on the sparklings, checking up on Samuel (it would do no good to give him back to the Autobot's more damaged than need be). Cade pulled out a polishing cloth and was going over his partner's armor, Beachbreak joining in after a few minutes.

"Beachbreak?" The mech looked over to find Fizz looking around the shed. "Beachbreak?"

Beachbreak set aside the cloth and stood up. "Here." He hadn't thought Fizz even knew his name.

Fizz stood up, careful of Samuel, and made his way towards Beachbreak, who headed over to meet him. Though taller than Beachbreak, Fizz still managed to snuggle in under his chin. Beachbreak wrapped his arms around the vending machine, so happy that this was real, wasn't one of those fantasies he fell into from time to time.

He looked towards Samuel, the human looked exhausted. Dundee scooped him and Dagger up and made his way toward Beachbreak. The mech removed one arm from Fizz and wrapped it as far as he could around Dundee when the Navigator was close enough. Together they headed towards Cade and Scorponok.

* * *

**A/N:** I was sort pissed at Prime after reading the novels, can you tell? Anywho, here you are. Sorry for the sudden influx of characters, but they are all canon so I hope it's not that big of an issue.

Reviews are lovely, they lift my spirits during my failing job search. As do the cupcakes my sister is making. Who knew she baked? Any one else want one?


	13. Hide and Seek

A Captured Beast Within a Human Skin

_By Uniasus_**  
**

**Chapter 13 – Hide and Seek**

* * *

The hospital Bee found himself pulling up to was small, a simple local building that was not built with a large capacity in mind. It seemed as if something in addition to the power surge had happened; there was police tape blocking a service ally and looked to be people on the roof looking at something. Bumblebee paid them no mind.

He hacked into the video feeds of the hospital and the records simultaneously, focusing his attention on the records and leaving a background program running to run a facial recognition on the security camera footages for Sam's face structure. Spidey paced anxiously back and forth on the passenger seat, and then jumped on top of the dashboard for the extra room. The clacking of metal on plastic reminded Bumblebee of a clock ticking down to something he'd rather avoid.

Sam's name didn't show up on the registry, but it was rather odd that the wing that lost power had been mostly empty. A half full ICU was on the bottom floor, and three floors above, the top one, was a single occupied room belonging to someone whose initials were H.C.H. No full name in a single slot for first, last or middle. And his reason for being in the hospital wasn't noted, and Bee couldn't find any medical record on file. Just the initials on the room.

His background program beeped, signaling it had found a possible match. Bee pulled up the program and found a group of people walking in the front door. There were people dressed in Swiss military uniforms, two people wearing lab coats, and in the center of the group was an unconscious person on a gurney. Who happened to be Sam.

Bee switched camera views and followed the procession through the hospital. Sam was steered down hallways and on to elevators, until he was placed in the room he had noticed earlier. The one registered to H.C.H. He watched as Sam was tied down to the bed, anger burning in his spark. At least they had set Sam's arm.

But it was what happened after Sam woke up that really caught his interest; the room exploded in light. The camera overloaded and pulling up other records Bee compared the time of the light burst to the power outage and found a match. Which was incredible, the implication. That Sam was the result.

That he really was the All Spark.

And that he hadn't noticed in the entire past six years.

Spidey gave a whining trill, nudging at a spot on the inside of the windshield, but Bee ignored him in favor of doing some more digging; hacking into Switzerland's defense network and searching for any files associated with the words H.C.H. There wasn't much there, just the basics, but that was more than he knew to begin with.

The Swiss had been monitoring Sam, or at least had an interest in him, since Mission City. They kept referring him to as a Human-Cybertron Hybrid, and were interested in how the energy of the All Spark affected humans. There was video file that Bee opened, and when he did he found himself looking at Sam sitting on a desk in a concrete room talking to none other than Spidey. There was a note attached that read 'acquire' and the next chronological file mentioned that an agent had captured the hybrid and brought him to a base located not far from the hospital. As for what went on in the base, how Sam broke his arm, there was no word. Bee was tempted to drive to the base and blast it into oblivion. No one messed with his friend, no one. Frag the idea that Prime wouldn't allow the action, Prime wasn't here right now, and he had no obligation to make a report right away. It could wait.

Bee started his engine, and to his surprise Spidey dug his feet into the dashboard in protest before again bumping his head against the windshield and tapping it with a leg too. Curious, he turned his sensor in that direction and his sensor systems brought to his attention something they noticed awhile ago but he had failed to acknowledge: there were four electronic signatures coming from the hospital that felt that same slimy way Spidey had when he first meet the mech. They were coming from the blocked off alleyway.

The scout made his way toward it, just as his background video monitoring application brought another potential file to his attention. It was of Sam, staring down seven soldiers, six of which were leveling guns at his chest. Bee's spark sputtered, not wanting to watch and yet needing to, when the feed cut out to show a field of static. He prayed to Primus that it was an attack by Sam, that the human had managed to get free. That he had used All Spark powers to his advantage.

Creeping under the police line, Bee noticed one side of the empty alley was pockmarked with holes in the bricks, some deep enough to catch a glimpse of the room beyond. There were shattered bricks covering the floor of the alley. And crouched behind the dumpster were four mechs.

They were hospital equipment: a heart rate monitor, a TV, a radio, and a video camera. The latter three were short and huddled around the first, whose screen bore the words 'SEARCHING...SEARCHING...'. Upon seeing Bee they all shrunk down, trying to hide.

Spidey decided to do a little dance and then scratched at the passenger window. Bee opened the door and let the little mech out. The mechs cringed away at first, but then shuffled forward a bit. The spider bot crawled up the TV and settled on top of it.

"What are you searching for?" Bumblebee asked.

The smaller ones looked towards the heart rate monitor, who then slowly turned to face Bee to answer.

'CREATOR'

"And who's that?" Bee rolled forward half a wheel revolution.

A cable snaked out from the video camera mech to connect with the TV and a very familiar face showed up on the screen. Sam.

Sam.

Sam was their creator. He _could_ create. Which was incredible, impossible. Which was...the best news he had heard in vorns. Because it meant the mechs in front of him, chirping and beeping at each other in happy conversation he couldn't follow, were sparklings. Spidey too, and Lilith most likely. True, honest to Primus sparklings. A miracle.

A miracle in a human skin, which was now missing and being hunted by Starscream. That he had no way to find.

"I'm looking for Sam too," he whined in sadness.

Which of course made for perfect timing when he received a comm message from someone he had thought to be dead for the past seven years.

::I have Sam safe with me here, in Japan. I'm sure you miss him. We'll keep him safe until you arrive::

Bumblebee didn't know which to be happiest about, that he now knew were Sam was or that Beachbreak was actually alive. Despite Prime telling him his friend had died on a mission seven years ago.

The soft sound of clanging brought his attention back to the sparklings, who still looked so vulnerable. They couldn't stay here, and since they both were looking for Sam, they might as well go together. Spidey would like the company of his siblings. Bumblebee clicked open his doors. "Come on, I know where he is. Let's go get him."

* * *

**A/N:** So sorry for the short chapter. I even expanded it a little bit. :/ I would have complied it with the next one, but I figured what happens next with Sam would be best in its own chapter. Poor guy, he's going to get beat up a bit. Right, so 'a bit' may be putting it lightly...

For those who didn't know, the books stated that Beachbreak was really good friends with Bumblebee. Maybe I should have amped the angst a little...oh well, I can do that in the rewrite. If you guys have any other changes to suggest (in this chapter or others) I''d love to hear them.


	14. The Consequences of Insulting a Seeker

**Warning:** Just...blood. And violence. And a few swear words.

* * *

A Captured Beast Within a Human Skin

_By Uniasus_**  
**

**Chapter 14 – The Consequences of Insulting a Seeker**

* * *

Beachbreak had gotten used to Samuel occasionally calling him Jonnie, who ever that was. He even responded to it. Grammy too sometimes. He wondered who the human was seeing.

"Grammy, when can we go home? I miss my bed."

"Soon."

The instabilities in his biorhythms had returned later that same day, and while he laid curled up in a corner half asleep, he had failed to close his eyes the entire night. Beachbreak had to wonder if Samuel could sleep, with the way his thought process and attention switched so quickly. Not to mention the constant trembling. That might pose a problem too. He'd ask Ratchet, but he had never memorized the medic's comm ID, just Bumblebee's because they had been friends for such a long time. He had lost everyone else's IDs when he fell over the waterfall.

There was always at least one sparkling near Samuel, though typically they all sat in a group, Cade and Scorponok included. Though he had only been there a day, Samuel fit right into the workings of the unit.

"Can you give me another problem for her?"

Her, meaning Sally. Samuel's invisible friend. Or hallucination as Beachbreak was wont to call her. Samuel said he had to distract her, and complicated problems or issues to solve were the only way to do it. What was scary was that Samuel seemed able to answer them correctly.

"A ship is traveling from Pannak to Cybertron, but doesn't have the amount of fuel needed for a direct route. Try to calculate a path to Cybertron where the ship's momentum is mostly provided by sling-shooting around stars."

The human went quite for a breem, and then stiffened as his muscles started spasming. Beachbreak quickly shifted positions to hold Samuel down. The sparklings stopped playing to watch, optics wide with fright as Scorponok started chittering anxiously. Cade looked up to watch in silence.

The seizure passed, as had the one the previous evening.

Dundee came over and extended his hands, silently asking for Samuel. Beachbreak gently laid the human in them, and Dundee drew his hands to his chassis. Weakly, Samuel peered between the splayed fingers.

"The answer depends on how much fuel the ship has. How much does it have, Grammy?"

"24 kons."

"Kay."

"You should get to sleep Samuel, you haven't in days."

"I tried Grammy, but I can't. My mind's so busy."

"Maybe you should stop trying to answer so many questions."

"No!" Samuel shot up into a sitting position, only to wobble and then fall back into Dundee's hand. Beachbreak saw him wince when he hit the metal plates of the palm.

"I don't know what she'd do if I'm not in control."

Beachbreak shared a look with Cade, but didn't respond. He had asked about the issue before and had not gotten a response that made sense.

::He needs to be in a hospital:: Beachbreak sent to Cade.

::I know, but you also know it's too risky, too dangerous for him. Plus, didn't you say your old Autobot friend would be here tomorrow?::

::At the earliest, but most likely the day after, or the one after that. Less than a week, for sure. Unless I had memorized his comm ID wrong::

::In that case, I should take off tonight. I don't think the Autobots would take kindly to me or Scorponok. Do you need anything?::

Beachbreak looked towards Samuel. Dagger had crawled up Dundee to perch on a fingertip after delivering a few cans of nuts to the human. ::More food I suspect. He eats more than Olympic athletes do. I don't think we have enough to get us through a week. Just to be safe:: He turned his attention back to the Ford.

Cade stood up. ::I'll go off now then::

"Human, what do you want to eat?"

"Cake. And a steak. And Nutella. Nutella is good. Sally wants popcorn and some of the lemon flavored water."

The cop gave Samuel a bland look and then turned around to exit the shed. Scorponok scuttled along after him and then leaped, taking his spot along the Mustang's back. Cade transformed into his alt form and the two of them took off down the docks.

A minute later, the sound of pulsar fire sent Beachbreak to the shed door. "Transform, all of you!" he shouted towards the sparklings. Dundee placed Samuel on the floor and then shrunk into his Navigator form. Dagger jumped into the front and Fizz climbed into Dundee's trunk to transform into a Mountain Dew machine lying on its side. Samuel pushed himself up into a sitting position and looked around in confusion.

"Samuel, get inside of Dundee!" Beachbreak ordered before he returned to watching the door.

Samuel staggered unsteadily to his feet and Dagger darted out to help him along. Beachbreak continued to look out the door, tense and ready to run, but there wasn't any more sounds of shots. But he knew something was wrong by the way Cade came into view. He was going to send an inquiry comm message when the answer rolled in behind the Mustang. An F-22. Covered in dark markings in Cybertronian that spoke of the superiority of seekers.

Starscream.

Beachbreak rapidly backed up and put himself in a battle stance between the door and the sparklings. What ever the seeker wanted, it wasn't for the benefit of the young ones. Cade walked in and transformed. Scorponok disengaged from his partner. Beachbreak could see the singe marks on the Ford's plating.

What does he want? Beachbreak silently asked with a head tilt in the seeker's direction. Starscream would be able to notice any messages sent through the air. Cade shook his head; he didn't know.

"Where is the All Spark?" Starscream ordered, scanning the shed. "I know where it was in Switzerland, and that you took it from there, Barricade. Why didn't you bring him to me like any loyal Decepticon should do? Are you in fact, not loyal to the cause and Mighty Megatron?"

Starscream powered up a rifle and pointed it Cade, but then changed his mind and switched targets to Scorponok, keeping his optics on the Ford.

"I simply did not know how to reach you. And it took me a while to recover from the battle in Mission City."

"Eight years?" the seeker sneered.

"Yes. I am regretful I could not play a part in the resurrection of Megatron."

Starscream scoffed and turned his attention towards Beachbreak and the sparklings behind him. "How good of you Barricade to offer me not only the All Spark, but four Autobot prisoners."

"We're not Autobots," Beachbreak blurted out, trying to appear as tall as possible. "We're...neutrals."

"And Barricade hasn't fragged you yet? Barricade, you're slacking. You've been out of the battlefield for far too long."

Cade shifted his weight to the outside of his feet, something Beachbreak had learned to mean he was on edge and worried. "I was trying to convince them to join our side, they could be useful."

"Grammy," Beachbreak whirled around to find that Samuel had opened Dundee's door and was trying to get out. Dagger was pulling on his pants leg in an effort to get him back inside. "I want something else to eat, and I need another problem."

Starscream honed in on the human immediately and a sly smile appeared on his face. "Ah, there you are."

He reached for Samuel, but Dagger gave a sharp tug and he fell back into Dundee, who shut the door and very obviously locked it. There was a moment of stillness, then Starscream charged his weapon and pointed it at Dundee over Beachbreak's head. "Give me the All Spark."

"No," Cade and Beachbreak said, though Beachbreak's was more of high-pitched cry and made Cade sound like a voice of reason. Starscream ignored the ex-Autobot's small cannon pointed at his lower thorax and turned his attention towards Cade.

"Are you disobeying an order form a superior Barricade?"

"No Commander, just wanting to give you some information. The human is quite found of those four, and I'm sure will be very unwilling to aide you if you harm them. He can also deal quite a lot of damage if upset."

Starscream gave Cade a level look, peered through Dundee's window, and then put away his weapon. Beachbreak just pointed his at the floor. He was glad Starscream didn't know that Cade wasn't being truthful and didn't know that the sparklings were exactly that. The seeker would be able to beat himself, Cade, and Scorponok in a fight despite the odds, but six (seven if you include Samuel) against one was not something even Starscream could win for sure. That, and the unknown extent of the All Spark's powers were probably the only things staying the jet's hand.

Dundee rocked on his wheels, as if shocked, and Samuel spilled out. "Grammy, I'm still hungry. And I need another problem."

"Here's a question for you," Starscream hissed, "What do you do to things that no longer work?"

Samuel looked at the seeker, but didn't seem to understand the threat he posed. "Go away _wekaika," _the last word was spoken in as close to Cybertronian as a human could speak, and referred to a failed attempt at creating a flying creature to be released into the wild. It was large, gangly, wobbled when it walked, and was so bad at flying most of the population killed themselves by crashing into things. Starscream bristled, but Samuel seemed unaware of it. "Grammy."

"Sa-"

"You didn't answer my question human," Starscream ground out between clenched dental plates.

Samuel looked up, tugging his coat around him more as a particularly violent shudder when though him. "You throw it away."

"Exactly. And your arm doesn't seem to be working, does it?"

Before anyone could process what Starscream meant, the jet had cut off Samuel's broken arm off at the shoulder with a laser.

To the human's credit, he didn't scream. Didn't cry. Didn't shout expletives at Starscream. He just stood there, staring at his shoulder; loose down feathers from the coat scattered in air and settled in Samuel's hair, the floor, and stuck to the ever increasing supply of blood. Beachbreak wasn't entirely sure the human knew what just happened.

"No Sally," Samuel said. "I can't grow a new one."

Something shifted in his eyes, and as soon as Beachbreak realized that Samuel was not off in his own world seeing and talking to things the mechs couldn't see he unsubspaced a cleaning rags and used it to stanch the blood flow.

"Shit, fuck, frag, and bloody hell! That was healing Starscream! You had no reason to do that." Samuel slashed his left hand through the air in anger, ignoring Beachbreak who had gone down on one knee next to him.

"Samuel!" Beachbreak called, but he was ignored.

"Well, it looked broken to me. You can't say I'm knowledgeable in human medicine. Nor expect that of me." Starscream crossed his arms and looked down at Samuel.

"At this point, the only thing you're knowledgeable about is how to be a fragger! And since you're an xenobiologist explorer, or were, yes, I expect you to know that a cast is a healing tool!"

"Samuel!" Beachbreak interjected, louder this time, and succeeded in getting the human's attention. "I need to stop the bleeding, and the only thing I can do is cauterize it." Cybertronian's had a limit to how much fuel they could lose, certainly humans did too.

"What?"

"Burn your flesh closed."

Samuel shied from the through, but then gave a grim nod. "What's another scar? Do what you need to."

Beachbreak nodded and looked up to Cade planning to ask for help, but thought better of it. It was better not let Starscream learn the fact that they were actually friends instead of a neutral and guard. He passed his gaze over to Scorponok, but the mech couldn't be used either for similar purposes. Which meant a sparkling unfortunately.

He looked behind him; Dagger was too small, and Dundee looked appalled at the sight of blood, so Fizz it was. Beachbreak indicated the vending machine to join him.

"Samuel, lie down." The human complied, already unsteady on his feet.

"Fizz, I need you to hold him down, keep him still while I work. Samuel, this is going to hurt." Beachbreak tore off a clean corner of a polishing cloth and gave it to Samuel to place it between his teeth. The rest of the cloth was used to swipe at the wound, removing feathers. He then activated his laser, pressed his other hand against the wound really tightly for a few seconds, and then pulled it away to start working.

The scent of burned flesh filled the shed and Sam arched upward, screaming around clenched teeth. Beachbreak worked as quickly as he could, starting at the top of the wound and moving down. Out of the corner of his optic he could see Starscream, arms still crossed, but obviously enjoying the horrific display of field medicine. Beachbreak had to stop halfway through to mop up more blood, but was still done much quicker than a human medic would have been. Samuel lay gasping for air, Fizz's arms lying diagonally across his body. Beachbreak nodded at Fizz, and the vending machine released his restraint.

Dagger slowly crept closer, most likely to comfort Samuel, but Starscream quickly moved and placed his foot in the way, just missing the X-Box's head.

"Now, HCH 01," the seeker loomed over Samuel, ignoring Beachbreak's protective position at his side, "I know what you can do, and you're going to do it. Otherwise, I'm sure there are other parts of your body you can live without. And the neutral here has proven quite effective in healing humans. So, what do you say to doing what I want?"

Samuel didn't say anything, just glared up at the seeker while taking in deep lungfuls of air.

"Right, we'll commence tomorrow."

"What...exactly...do you want me...to do?" The human asked between breaths.

"Build me an army, of course."

* * *

**A/N:** I had to make up for that short chapter somehow right? I figured a quick update would be the way to go ^_~


	15. An Unwilling Weapon

A Captured Beast Within a Human Skin

_By Uniasus_

**Chapter 15 – An Unwilling Weapon**

* * *

It was getting hard, really hard to be aware of what was going on around him. Sam was never too sure what was real and what wasn't, and took to thinking that it wasn't most of the time. He was constantly hungry, even though he was always eating. He was constantly tired too, but when ever he laid down and shut his eyes they seemed to open on their own accord. Sleep was something he desperately wanted, but his body kept saying no, kept finding reasons to stay awake. And he was constantly cold to the point of tremors, sometimes found himself short of breath, and was still having seizures.

Sam couldn't tell if Sally was taking over or not, his boundary line between what was going on in his head and what was going on out of it was thin and foggy at best. It's not like she stayed in his head anyway, frolicking around the sparklings and cuddling up to Grammy Jonnie, no Beachbreak, that was his name. He talked to Sally, tried to keep her busy with problems to solve and by answering her curious questions about human life and the planet Earth. But he couldn't keep it up all the time, figuring out reality was his first priority and there were times she had full rein. Sam had no idea what she did during those times, if anything. Maybe she was passive, maybe she walked his body from place A to place B. He didn't know, and was slightly past caring at this point. The creation of new sparklings, now that was something that wouldn't escape his notice. And he hadn't noticed it, so he figured Sally was behaving herself.

For the most part.

And like all children, eventually Sally too stopped being good.

There was a new line, connection, bond as Sally liked to call them, and Sam found himself putting all his effort into figuring out what was really going on. The dorm room he thought he was in faded away to reveal tall skyscrapers and lots of signs covered in Asian writing. Right, Barricade had said he was in Japan, but other than that he had nothing to go on. What Japanese city he was in was a mystery.

Another mystery was how Starscream got there, found him, but like the other one it wasn't begging to be solved. It didn't matter, not really. But he was still pissed at the Seeker for cutting his arm off. Absentmindedly, he rubbed his stump. Beachbreak had done a good job taking care of him, but the scar was extensive. He also found himself feeling morose at the idea of not being able to work on Ed. You know, if Ed hadn't been scrapped already or was being kept under lock and key in some Air Force base. It angered Sam a little, how he didn't know what had set Starscream off. He was guessing Sally did something, she wasn't answering his questions about it. And there was no way he was asking Beachbreak or Barricade. His tentative hold on reality didn't seem to be something to advertise, even to his current allies. You never knew.

He pulled his wispy thoughts back to the new bond he felt, now two new bonds, and noticed all the people running away from him in all directions. Sam frowned, sure he hadn't showered in awhile, but it wasn't that bad! The clanking of metal behind him made him realize it was probably Starscream they were really running from. Usually, Sam would be doing the same thing actually.

Why do you no like the seeker? Sally asked. Because he cut off my arm, tried to kill me a bunch of times, and has been involved in a couple of plots to destroy my planet. Sally crossed her arms and leaned against Starscream's far foot. But he's mine, and so yours too. Can't you feel it? She placed a hand on her chest, and then disappeared to pop back into existence right in front of him and placed her other hand on his chest.

Sam covered it with his own hand, closed his eyes, and felt along his bonds. No, he shook his head, I don't feel it, only the new sparklings. Starscream isn't mine. Plus, at some point you have to let children go Sally. They grow up, and it's not uncommon for a child to become disowned. Sally frowned and then forcefully shook her head; her blue pigtails thumped against his chest. No! Mine! Forever mine.

A third new bond formed, and he found his thought process clear up, become less ADD. He needed to know where he was, what was going on. He was in Japan, in a city, and there was Starscream, and running people. _And three new sparklings_. Dang it Sally! The All Spark hunched in on herself and disappeared from view.

They were walking in front of him, two transformed small cars and one laptop. They were looking wildly around, couched ready to run, but couldn't find a suitable place to do so; people in three direction and Starscream in the fourth, with Barricade, Scorponok, and Beachbreak behind him. It was noisy, scary, and they wanted out! But Sam could tell something was holding them back from bolting through a building like they were capable of.

Us. Sally was crouched down and stroking the back of the laptop. We made them, they serve us. They won't leave us in danger.

But Starscream would, and Sam could tell the seeker was simmering about something as they were walking down the street, an action his feet had simply been taking automatically. At the moment, the jet was cooling his thrusters by blasting into the panicked and fleeing crowd. Sam winced as people went down and almost gaged as his sense of smell returned to him; burnt flesh was not the most pleasant of scents. Sam tripped into a pothole and fell, without two arms it was hard to balance. One of the new car sparklings made to pick him up, but at some cue from Starscream Sam couldn't see, stopped. He pushed himself slowly to his feet, brushing his hand off on his pants, and noticed Dagger and the laptop had moved to pace him on each side to act as buffers.

"Thanks guys," he said, reaching down to scratch the laptop, who was on his left.

"Always Creator," Dagger answered, and the laptop chirruped in agreement.

"This isn't going to work." Starscream stopped shooting and came to a stand still. "It's taking too long. My soldiers," he looked back at Barricade, Beachbreak, Fizz, and Dundee, "lack any aim and you new recruits don't even know how to fire a gun."

"We do," the laptop whispered to Sam, too soft for Starscream to hear over himself, "but will only do what Creator says, not the jet."

Sam gave a smile and patted the sparkling's back.

"What I need, is more soldiers. Even if they can't shoot with precision, lots of fire will cause enough damage for my take over of this country. Which means," Starscream reached down to pick Sam up via the back of his ruined coat and deposited him in the jet's waiting palm, "that you have to be quicker at animating Earth's technology."

"It takes a long time to create a spark! And I'm not letting you use sparklings for warfare. I'm not awaking anything else!" Sam bunched his hand into a fist, digging his nails painfully into his palm.

"I'm not giving you a choice, meatbag!" Starscream hissed. "I don't think you have any control over what you're doing, so all I have to do is hold you against something and I'll get what I want. As for a spark, I don't need those. I don't want sparklings I have to take care of, I want drones. And I think you can give those to me."

Sally was standing on a platform of air in front of Starscream, pleading with him to stop, not do anything, because war was BAD and life was GOOD and one shouldn't be used for the other.

Idealistic and naive, Sam thought, but at least she was on his side completely now.

Not that having her stuck inside his head and running around as a projection of his mind did much for his side.

Starscream shot out a hand and wrapped it around his middle before Sam could even so much as duck. He squirmed, noticed out of the corner of his eyes how all the other transformers tensed, and prayed they didn't do anything stupid. The seeker also seemed reluctant to have them attack and loosened his grip slightly, but there was still no chance at escape. Not that Sam wanted a lose hold on himself when he was over ten feet up in the air with a fall guaranteed to land on tough concrete. If he was lucky. Starscream could take off and hang from the side of building, thereby dramatically decreasing Sam's chance of surviving a drop.

The jet took off with a long stride, cutting through the sparklings who then followed Beachbreak and Barricade along with Dundee and Fizz. Dagger and the laptop rode on Beachbreak, who had an easier time matching Starscream's steps in his quad bike alt form than his bi-pedal mode. Ah, the problems of being short.

There was a used car lot up ahead and Starscream stopped next to it to crouch down. "This will work, human. Now, activate my army."

"I said no!" Sam screamed, trying to get his single hand access to a wire in the seeker's hand.

Fizz decided at that point to take things into his own hands. He brought up his two cannons and emptied his ammunition into Starscream's lower back. The seeker stumbled, but quickly righted himself and pointed his null ray at the vending machine. He fired once, twice, three times in quick succession, all near Fizz's spark chamber. The sparkling wobbled, then fell.

Beachbreak quickly transformed, Dagger and the laptop on his heals. The short mech shook his head, informing the other transformers that the gray tinge to Fizz's armor would continue to spread, that he was gone. But Sam hadn't needed a visual confirmation, because he had felt the bond pull piano string tight and then snap, the violence of the death giving him and Sally mental whiplash.

"You!" Sam hissed, puffing up as much as possible and glaring daggers at Starscream. He meant to go on, but the seeker roughly pushed him against the hood of a nearby SUV.

Sally, weeping and disparaging over the lost bond, changed moods almost automatically, like a child upset by the loss of one toy is pacified by the appearance of another one. Here was a chance to make a new connection, to if not repair the broken bond, at least cover up the stinging hurt of losing Fizz. Because it was a bad feeling, and she didn't like feeling bad.

It won't work! Sam pleaded with her, knowing that awaking a sparkling wasn't going to make the pain go away, wasn't going to erase the memory or the horrific fantasy of Bumblebee or one of the other sparklings being the next victim. It won't work! He shouted at her, even as the faint stirrings of a connection started to form and Sally's assurance that it would and his own small similar hope bubbled up.

But as soon as it came it was gone and all that was underneath him was more dead metal. So Sally tried again, and again, and again, each time feeling that faint hint of a bond that would make her, and thus Sam's feelings, soar only to have a bullet blow through their wings. It wasn't working, and Sam was feeling sick from how Starscream was rubbing him on the cars as if he were a cleaning cloth.

After awhile the shaking stopped and Sam found the world spinning, but there was still the constricting fingers of Starscream's hand around his middle. And in front of him was something he dearly wished was one of his hallucinations and not reality. The entire lot of cars was standing, looking about and the few moving were doing so stiffly.

Sally was crying, running from one to another, reaching out and trying to find an active bond and failing. None of the sparklings responded to her efforts, and the pain stung deeply. Sam squirmed in Starscream's grasp, not caring about the tears running down his face, because he was searching for bonds too and failing. "Sally, Sally, Sally," he sobbed, trying to calm her down unsuccessfully because what she felt, he felt, and she felt again in return.

The sparklings, the sparkless sparklings worse off than Fizz (don't think of him now), Dundee, and Dagger had been, were looking for direction and before he could speak and give it to them Starscream spoke instead.

"Your orders are to take control of the city."

And they moved, having the instinctual violent tendencies the sparklings created by Sector Seven had. They leveled guns at buildings, mowed down running people, and steadily moved down streets. Mechanical. Robotic. Empty.

Suddenly, Sam felt the same way. Empty and drained. He felt himself fall, felt some other mech who wasn't Starscream catch him, and finally, after who knows how long fell asleep when he eyes closed as the salt of his tears crusted on his check, Sally still wailing in the background of his mind.

* * *

Beachbreak bent his knees as he caught Samuel before he hit the ground. Starscream had simply tossed the human over his shoulder after barking out commands, as if he was a toy who no longer held his interest. Cade came up behind him to check on the human, the sparklings also gathering around as Beachbreak gently brushed Samuel's hair out of his face.

The human was still, asleep, but alive. Unharmed. And while he knew Starscream was marching on the city of Tokyo, was destroying lives, all he could think of was how grateful what was left of his family had slipped the seeker's mind and was allowed to fade away into the background.

Cade stepped away and scooped up Fizz's body, Dundee rushing to help. Beachbreak watched them do it, cupping Samuel closer to his chest. Things were getting out of hand. He hoped Bumblebee finally arrive, he had backup.

* * *

**A/N:** Heads up, I'll be doing NaNo this year again, and for the first time will not be doing a TF fanfic. I'm going for something original ^_~ That being said, even while my update schedule is super erratic, don't expect anything during November. (Unless my mind decides it needs a original fic break and spits out a oneshot.) You can however, expect me to finish uploading this story before the end of the month. This was my NaNo novel from two years ago, and as such really should have all been up ages ago. I do apologize for that. But there's only 17 chapters, so we're almost done!

You're welcome to follow me on the NaNoWriMo site! I'm using the same username over there.

And now, those brownies in the oven are calling me. As is my PS3. Ah, I'll have a good night tonight ^_^


	16. KO

A Captured Beast Within a Human Skin

_By Uniasus_**  
**

**Chapter 16 – K.O.**

Bumblebee hadn't wasted time in informing the rest of the Autobots that he had found Sam's location, the south end of Japan's main island. When he met up with them, he still had the sparklings in his alt mode. They were currently chatting in the cargo hold of the plane they were in, Ratchet overseeing all five of them.

::Prime:: he initiated over the comm, not wanting the conversation to be public.

::Yes Bumblebee?::

::Beachbreak was the one who told me where Sam is::

Prime's attention had been on watching the sparklings, but at Bee's comment turned to look at him.

::Beachbreak? You sure?::

::I'm positive:: The look he gave Prime was level. He didn't want to out rightly accuse Prime of leaving someone behind, of not checking to see if a solider was really dead.

The other Autobot shook his head. ::That waterfall would have seriously damaged myself. A mech of Beachbreak's statue…:: Prime shook his head as he trailed off. ::It would have been a miracle::

::Miracles have been known to happen::

::Yes, they have been. I'm delighted to hear that Beachbreak survived. Did he say how he found Sam?::

Bumblebee shook his head. ::No, only that he would keep him safe until I got there::

The PA system crackled to life, and both Autobots paused their conversation to listen. "You guys might want to check out the news from Tokyo and consider changing destinations."

Bumblebee frowned, Sam was in that region. He plugged into the newscast with the other Autobots. Instantly he discovered stories about cars coming to life and taking over the city. All the photos he came across showed a mass of mechs he had never seen before walking down city streets with their guns out and shooting, people scattered about their feet either running away or laying still. There was speculation that it was connected to the display of the Fallen years ago, but the human that the aliens had been looking for years ago was already in their grasp. There was a picture of Beachbreak holding a human, Sam, close to his chest.

Bee searched the pictures the public was uploading to the news station's website. Most were of the unmarked mechs marching on the city, a jet he was pretty sure was Starscream in the air above them. But there were a few of a group of mechs huddled together, and there wasn't a single picture of them attacking anything. The group consisted of several mechs Bee didn't know, but also Beachbreak, Barricade, and Scorponok with a Navigator that may or may not be a Transformer. They all looked unwilling to be there and were usually depicted in a defense circle.

And then there was the stunning image of Starscream shooting a green mech dead while Sam struggled in his other hand.

Bee tried sending a comm message to Beachbreak, but it didn't go through. Starscream had most likely jammed his communication system.

"Change course and drop us off in the area so we can prevent Starscream from progressing any farther." Prime commanded. Bumblebee wished the plane could go faster, and as if reading his mind he heard the strain on the engines increase a tiny bit. They were already pushing the machine to its limits, but Bee didn't mind if it broke down and the plating fell apart once they landed. The important part was getting to Sam.

* * *

The city was a mess. The drones where everywhere and the Japanese government had sent in the military. They didn't seem to understand that Beachbreak's small little group didn't want anything to do with the takeover, that they were in fact shuffled along behind the army at gunpoint and any attempt to leave and make a break for peace was greeted with erect arms that had prepped cannons on the end or a peppering of shots from the F-22 flying around the scene. The humans just saw menacing robots, fearful creatures, that shone like the deadly swords of the samurai of the past and held in the center of their hands the all the firepower of a single battalion. Beachbreak could understand the attacks, but that didn't mean he liked them.

Thankfully the humans didn't know where to shoot, didn't know the vital spots on a Cybertronian's body, and just randomly fired upon them. They did a whole lot less damage to them than did the drones to Tokyo.

Samuel was being carried by one of the new sparklings, one who had taken the name Kiwi for reasons Beachbreak had no idea of, nor the time to ask. The sparklings were mostly in the center of the little powwow, Dundee in alt form and carrying Fizz's body, while Beachbreak, Cade, and Scorponok took up a triple point to stand guard. Not that they needed to do much. The drones usually took care of any military stand, and the few shots that did hit them did minimum damage. The biggest concern was following Starscream's orders before the drones decided to enforce them.

There was a roar of thunder as Starscream transformed and landed in front of them. He had one null ray pointed at Dundee while his other palm was opened and laid flat.

"Hand over the All Spark."

Scorponok chitted angrily, but Cade shushed him with a touch on his tail. "Surely the amount of soldiers under your command is great enough to fulfill your goals Commander."

The seeker sneered at the Ford; he knew that all of Cade's actions were performances. "One can never have enough, especially when you have traitors amongst your ranks and the ones you order are inexperienced." The null ray hummed as it powered up. "Hand him over."

Kiwi was in no position to step closer to Starscream, he was shaking, so Beachbreak collected Samuel from his arms and carried him over. He didn't want to, had seen the tears after the last time this happened, but he knew Starscream wouldn't kill Samuel. He was too important. But Dundee wasn't, and he was reluctant to lose another sparkling. To not do everything in his power for a companion, give any display that a mech wasn't worth much.

Samuel, thank Primus, was still asleep when Starscream took off with him, but Beachbreak didn't think that would be the case upon his return.

Military issue planes roared by above him, but they were not Japanese. Beachbreak zoomed in, noticed the NEST logo on the side of them, and smiled. Bee was here and things would be all right.

Or at least, they were supposed to be. Because not only Bee had arrived, but also a slew of Autobots including Prime himself. Beachbreak had mixed feelings about seeing the Autobot commander jump out of the plane, but it certainly meant good for his side. Until he realized all the sparklings had taken off, towards the main battle.

"Where are you going?" he called after them, knowing he couldn't stop them all and praying to Primus they were smart enough to stay out of the action.

Kiwi paused to answer before running after his siblings. "We have to protect Creator."

Beachbreak halted. Look at that, they're not even a full vorn old and yet ready to put their lives on the line for someone else. But Beachbreak had been doing it for many vorns, was practiced in the art of protecting another and yourself at the same time as best as possible. "We'll, I have to protect all of you, so wait up."

He took off after them in his alt form, and felt the footfalls of Barricade behind him. The ex-Con was a protector now too.

* * *

Of all the bad mornings he had ever had, waking up to Sally's screams and tears while once again trapped in Starscream's hand had to be the worse. Oh, and add gunfire that seemed to be aiming for him, if the bullet's ricocheting off Starscream's hand were any indication. Sam winced as a bullet grazed his shoulder, the wound welling up with blood.

"Calm down, calm down," he muttered under his breath to Sally. But she wasn't paying attention, and noticing the new army they had just been forced to waken, Sam felt sick to his stomach. No way was he going to be able to get to her to stop, so he just let her ride it out, trying to deal with his own pain at the situation, the way his head was swimming from Starscream waving his arm around to use the rifle on it, and the pain from his shoulder.

Eventually, the seeker got tired of holding him. The jet punched a hole in the side of nearby skyscraper, deposited Sam inside, and then took off for the air. The drones on the ground started moving, firing on the Japanese military and the rest of their surroundings. Including the building Sam was in.

He heard it creak and grown, and it might have swayed or it might not have, but he got the impression it had. Stupidly, he clung to a leg of a desk nearby. It wouldn't help at all if the building toppled, but at least squeezing the piece of metal gave him something to do.

Sam looked out the window. He could make out some of the drones, Sally running among them shouting 'Stop! Stop!'. But they didn't know she was there, only he did, and eventually she took up a place nestled into his side.

"They're not to supposed to be like this," she sobbed, burying her face into Sam's ribs.

"I know," he answered, wrapping an arm around her. "But you're not supposed to go around just creating sparklings cuz you feel like it either."

"Why not?"

"Cuz then stuff like this happens." Sally pulled back to look at him, lips puckered out and cheeks puffed, before deflating.

"So if I listen to you, will the pain go away?"

Sam twirled one of her blue pigtail braids around his finger. "Not all of it, but I'll do my best to make it as small as possible."

"And they won't do bad things?"

"I can't promise that, but I can give them to people who don't do bad things, so the sparklings grow up to be good people."

"Okay," Sally muttered, lax. "I'm sorry you're hurt. And that you don't grow new parts faster."

"That's okay," he gave a small chuckle. "I'm used to it."

There was the sound of a military plane, and Sam instinctively cured up, thinking it was airborne Japanese come to shoot at him. But it flew by the building instead. He crept slowly to the window, careful of the broken glass, and peered out into the city. It was a NEST plane and he let out a laugh of relief at the sight of it and the Autobots jumping from the side. "See that Sally? We're gonna be alright."

He spoke to soon. He watched as Ironhide took aim at the drones, watched as the shot went through a couple of them and then passed under his sight before it exploded. Sam felt the building lurch for real this time. The energy blast had hit the skyscraper's foundations.

"Shit." Sam scrambled backwards, barely noticing the glass piercing his palm. Furniture was shifting, coming at him, and he was dealt a dizzying blow from a file cabinet. He shook his head, trying to clear it, and with one eye winced shut turned to look out the window. His stomach lurched, watching the street zoom closer. There weren't many pedestrians down there, most had cleared out by this point, and the few he saw were pointing towards the falling skyscraper.

He moved and turned, placed his back against the wall and stared out the other side of the building at the receding sky. Sally was in his arms, warm and trembling, face buried in his shirt. Sam couldn't hear her sobbing, everything was eerily quiet, but he could feel it through his hands.

Sam took a quick peak around the wall and looked out the window. It surely couldn't be too much longer, could it? There was a mech down there, and as if sensing his look the transformer looked up. It was Kiwi, and the laptop was on his shoulder. But they were in no position to help, to far down the street; they had overshot his hiding place. He shut his eyes as he pulled back to his original position, tightening his grip on Sally. She didn't complain.

The building, and they, hit the ground with a crash. The force of it traveled through Sam's back, sending him back into the air to fall again onto the wall. He watched in horror as a fallen cabinet completed it's own fall, passing right through Sally and landing with a thud on his elevated knees. He screamed in pain and then tried to muffle it. He bit through his lip, the blood pooling above his chin.

Sally was by his head in a moment, hands over his mouth in a naive attempt to stanch the bleeding. It's okay, he told her, and reluctantly she pulled her blue hands back. Sam unclenched his jaw, testing the teeth holes in his lower lip with his tongue. The wounds stung.

"Samuel!" His Grammy shouted. No, not his grandmother, a mech. Beachbreak. "Samuel!"

"Here, here! We're here!" Sally called out, facing the left of the building and cupping her hands over her mouth. "He's hurt!"

But of course, they couldn't hear her. Nor his weak attempts at making words. Whenever his mouth opened, all that came out were grunts or groans of pain. As it worked out, they didn't need to hear him to know where he was. The left wall exploded inwards. Sam was glad he hadn't being lying near it.

The wall continued to explode, albeit by smaller amounts as a mech, Barricade, attacked it with punches in an effort to expand the hole. So preoccupied with the thought of the old cop trying to reach him in aide that Sam failed to notice Dagger's appearance until the small sparkling gently touched his hand.

"Hey there," Sam gave the Xbox a weak smile. Dagger twitted back, and then made his way over to the bottom of the cabinet. He made to lift it, but while the transformer was able to elevate it, he couldn't keep it up. It slammed back down on Sam's knees and the human gave a yelp of pain.

"Samuel!" And then Beachbreak was there, small enough to maneuver comfortably in the building. Kiwi had managed to get in, but he was too wide to not be aware of his movements. Barricade and the other new sparkling stood outside. Sam couldn't see Scorponok or Dundee.

Sam gave the quad bike a weak smile. Beachbreak bent down, lifted up the cabinet, and pushed it away from Sam. It rolled a couple of time before crashing down a few yards away.

He shouldn't look, but morbid curiosity made him. His knees were…ruined. Thankfully it wasn't gruesome, most of the blood was still in his legs, but his knees were swollen, already bruising, and his right thigh was bleeding from where a handle corner had bored into it. Give anything enough force, and the bluntest thing could become a weapon.

Beachbreak winced. "I can't fix this Samuel."

"I…figured. It's okay, human medics can."

The mech looked uncertain, but there wasn't anything he could do about it. Lightly Beachbreak crouched down and then picked him up, maneuvering Sam so he could hook his one arm around Beachbreak's neck.

"Let's get you to one of those human medics than."

* * *

It was chaos. Drones, humans, and Starscream. Drones who kept attacking, who wouldn't quit, who didn't speak. Humans who attacked at anything that wasn't of their own species, who got in the way, who were annoying. And Starscream, circling above, firing on them. He ducked, weaved, bobbled, fired. Buildings fell, he fell, Bots fell. But they all got up again. The only thing that stayed down were structures and human air vehicles. Things were confusing, telling Japan troops from NEST troops so Bumblebee resorted to just attacking when being shot at.

The strategy wasn't ideal, he was taking damage he could have avoided in other circumstances, and sometimes a drone or two would also get in a good shot. But not all his attention was on the battle around him. Most, yes, it would be foolish not to have it be his first priority. The rest of his processor though was scanning the area, all sensors stretched for any sign of Sam. Familiar biorhythms keyed up and placed side by side with those of every human he scanned.

NEST had dropped them off one at a time, Prime first followed closely by Bumblebee. Ironhide had been the last to drop from the helicopter. He announced his landing over the comm lines and the resounding 'pshew-thump' of his canon going off a full power echoed the announcement.

Bee felt himself smile. The old gunner always did like entrances.

A mechanical, Cybertrionian voice screamed from the direction Ironhide's shot had taken. "Creator!" It didn't mean anything to him, as once he checked that none of his own team and uttered it, dismissed the cry. But then it was followed by another Cybertronian voice, one he recognized and was just as panicked as the first. "Samuel!"

He froze, as did Ironhide and Long Arm who were close enough to hear the cry with their normal sensor settings. They hadn't been expecting it, had been caught off guard. Bee, who had been prepared, took off running in the same direction.

His bio scanners weren't picking up scans, but there was a human in one of the fallen buildings. Bee threw himself forward, transforming to his alt mode, and raced around corners and feet. The shots that hint him were miniscule, flies, unimportant. Sam was the only thing that mattered.

Getting closer to the human's signal, Bee slowed as his processor refused to let him ignore the other data he was picking up. There was one human and eight, no seven, mechs. Silently he transformed, still moving quickly, but taking care to remain unseen, ID muted. He didn't have to worry about humans at this point, the battle was behind him, the drone already having come through this area to leave it abandoned and wrecked in their wake. All he needed to concentrate on were the mechs and human nearby. He tried to read their ID makers, but not one of them had any. Or if they did, they weren't active. A dangerous thing to do, especially in an open war zone.

To be safe, Bee armed his pulse cannon, charging it up while he gathered information. Two of the mechs were tiny, a third human sized, and what he thought had been an eighth body was actually just that, a body. The mech was no longer living, but for some strange reason he was still being kept within the group's range.

Bumblebee turned around the corner to get a good look. There was Sam, injured and clutched in Beachbreak's arms, and Barricade was with them. He shot. Multiple times.

It was surprising how quickly the Decepticon went down, Bee didn't think his aim was that good, but the cop collapsed after the third shot. Bee wanted to get in more, make sure Barricade could never harm Sam again, but at the first shot Scorponok came running out of a nearby alley, where the dead mech and one other where hiding, and charged straight at him. The symbiote launched himself at Bee's face, giving the Camaro a perfect opportunity to land two shots on Scorponok's belly. The shots ricocheted off, failing to do anything, and before Bee knew it, the scorpion had knocked him over and was attacking the exposed cables in his neck with his mandibles while his tail arched up and slammed back down to tear through Bumblebee's plating and continue going until it hit the base structure of his thigh beneath it.

There was a human screaming, mechs screaming, himself included, and Bee simply tuned it out, focused on his task. Kill Scorponok. His hands came up, one on the symbiote's head, the other on his body. Bee kept the head steady and then pushed with all his might on the scorpion's shoulders. Like all symbiote's, it was easy to rip the body off the spine. It damaged the spark chamber too, ripping it open. Instant death.

He tossed the parts aside and found Barricade charging at him. A chorus of 'No!' followed him, spoken by Sam and the other mechs, but Bee ignored them, not sure what they were protesting. The scout spread his legs and hunched down. Barricade didn't stop, he threw out his wheel spike at Bee's injured leg. The Camaro brushed it aside and then they clashed, the sound reverberating off the buildings around them. Bumblebee shifted his grip, moving his hands lower, and lifted the Con up, flipping him over his shoulder. Barricade landed with a crash on his back, on top of Scorponok's head.

"Bee stop!" Beachbreak yelled. "He's –"

At which point one of the grenades Ironhide had been wanting to test, which Bee had planted on Barricade before flipping him, went off.

The explosion was bigger than he expected, much larger than what Hide had told him to look out for. Bee found himself blown into the air and knocked through a building. He stopped sliding halfway through it.

::How'd it work?:: Hide sent him.

Bee waited for his sensors to deal with the overload of sensory information before answering. ::You took the plans from Wheeljack, didn't you?:: He didn't get a response.

He hadn't been the only one thrown, or damaged by the blast. He had thought the other mechs, Beachbreak, and Sam had been out of the range for anything more drastic but heat and sound. But they weren't. He scans showed two mechs dead, the small ones, who had not survived the impact with the ground or surrounding buildings. But everyone else seemed to still be okay. He thought. Sam's vital signs were still strange and as such he couldn't be sure exactly of the human's status.

Bee stepped out of the building and made his way toward the small group. He paused at the entrance to an alley, giving the Navigator hiding in it a glance, but then moved on. The SUV hadn't done anything to label it as aggressive, however strange it was to be carrying around a dead mech's body through a battlefield.

"Give me Sam and Beachbreak," Bumblebee commanded, walking toward the small group of three mechs and one human. Beachbreak was lying on his side, Bee could tell he was hurt, but not too much, with Sam was next to him on the ground. The two unknown mechs seemed to bristle at the order, moving positions so they were between Bee and his friends.

Bee powered up his canon. He wouldn't shoot, not this close to Sam and Beachbreak, but the other mechs didn't know that. The scout looked for Decepticon badges, but he didn't find any.

"Back away from them."

There was the sound of transformation behind him and Bee turned to see the Navigator had come of hiding. He stepped out of the alley with a cannon pointed at Camaro's back. "Now."

The Autobot froze. He didn't doubt his ability to take out all three of them in other situations. If there weren't people he wanted to protect nearby. He hummed his cannon. "Walk away."

"No," the other three mechs said at the same time, all holding their guns at him.

Bee turned to look at the other two, whose alt forms he couldn't make out, and then past them towards Beachbreak. He couldn't see Sam, one of the mechs was in the way, but Beachbreak seemed to be talking to the human. Stroking Sam's side and saying something that Bee couldn't pick out. When he noticed all three offensive mechs tense, the scout shifted his right foot a bit back to get into a defensive position. And then Beachbreak let out muffled scream, drawing Sam towards him.

The two mechs turned and made their way towards Sam. The Navigator behind him did the same, running and pushing Bee aside as he moved. He…he hadn't…had he?

Bee took a few steps towards the small group but looked up at the sound of Seeker engines. Starscream quickly transformed and clung to the side of a skyscraper. "Pity. I needed more drones. You think it'll still work even though the fleshbag is dead?"

"Back off," Beachbreak hissed, pulling Sam's body closer to him while the Navigator helped him sit up. To back up the message, the two other mechs aimed their weapons at the jet.

Starscream laughed. "You can barely stand, and your two sparkling guardians don't stand a chance. Do you want to see them die too? How many has that been today, Autobot?"

Sparklings? Bee's spark skipped. Sparklings came online with the same physical structures as adults, nothing tagged them as young. It was only their interaction with the world, their lack of knowledge and awareness of social norms that gave their age away. And even then it was hard sometimes to know, so it had been common for a creator to always introduce a sparkling as such at the first opportunity, even before stating their own designation.

But there hadn't been time for that here, had there been? It had been obvious by the way they acted that the mechs Bee found at the hospital were sparklings (and the fact they had been searching for a creator). But these mechs, they had been ready to fight the entire time. They didn't act like sparklings. However, now that he looked for it, he could see all of the three unknown mechs send glances towards Beachbreak as if looking for direction. And the Navigator seemed to be drawing comfort from Beachbreak, if the way he was pressing into the smaller mech was any indication.

The one the Navigator had been carrying around?

And the other two dead mechs, the small ones?

Bee started to turn his head in their direction, but stopped. He didn't want to look. Not now.

"The only one dying here is you Starscream," Bee aimed and fired.

The seeker screeched as the shot hit the center of his left wing, turning his optics on to Bumblebee. "You!" Starscream sneered. "You can't stop me either."

Jumping from the side of the building, the jet transformed and raced towards Bumblebee. The scout held his fire, a stray shot would hit a sparkling, but had his targeting program follow Starscream even as he dodged bullets. The Decepticon roared over him and Bee unleashed a blast to the jet's belly. Starscream wobbled and pulled up, only to be met by the fire of two helicopters. It seemed like NEST and the Japanese were working to bring down at least one target.

After a quick three-sixty, the seeker veered away and the helicopters followed. Japanese jets soon appeared traveling in the same direction and Bee left the Decepticon Air Commander to the humans.

He put away his weapons, steeled himself, and then turned around.

Beachbreak was holding Sam to his chest, sitting in the street. If Cybertronians could cry, he would be. Instead he was emitting a low thrum, way below the range of human hearing, that their kind gave off when upset or grieving. Because Bee's facial recognition software was telling him what his scanners couldn't; there was no doubt that the human was Sam. And having his programs flash Sam's name on his HUD, along with the derivative of protecting him, made it that much more obvious that he failed.

The Navigator was mourning, as were the two other mechs. All four of them in a loose huddle around Sam, each touching some part of him. Sparklings, Sam's sparklings, lamenting the loss of their creator. Bee doubted any of them were even a week old. It was surprising they were still alive.

He winced at the thought of the few who weren't, looking back up the street at the Cybertronian bodies. Three sparklings, one symbiote, one Con.

One human.

Bumblebee turned and took a step toward the group, voicing his own distress at Sam's death. Beachbreak didn't seem to notice, but the sparklings did. The Navigator pointed his gun at him, as did one of the other mechs while the third shifted to place himself in front of Beachbreak and Sam.

This seemed to get Beachbreak's attention and some type of conversation happened between the four of them. Bee felt compelled not to listen in, he was pretty sure he wouldn't be hearing pleasant comments about himself.

Eventually, the tight circle loosed a little bit and Bee watched as Beachbreak transferred Sam into the arms of the Navigator. One of the other sparklings, the green one, helped Beachbreak to his feet. The small Autobot seemed to have trouble standing up right, his legs were damaged, so the sparkling helped him walk towards Bumblebee. It would have been an amusing sight in different conditions, Beachbreak came up to the sparkling's elbow.

Bee wasn't to sure if it would be wise to come closer, but after seeing his friend stumble a couple of times he slowly walked over to meet them halfway.

"Hey Shorty," he said just above a whisper when then were a couple of steps away.

Beachbreak stopped, and then smiled at Bee. "No one's called me that in a while."

"Well, it looks like you're still the shortest one in your group."

"No I'm…wasn't. No I wasn't."

Right.

"Bumblebee, this is Kiwi. He's a sparkling. They are all."

"I gathered." Bee shifted uncomfortably.

"Cade and I…had been taking care of Dundee, Fizz, and Dagger for almost seven planetary cycles. Kiwi and his brothers were just activated today."

"I'm…" His doorwings drooped and his mourning note dropped a third. "I didn't think Hide's bomb would do all that."

Beachbreak slid down the side of Kiwi's leg and took a seat on the street. Bee followed suit, trying to reduce the height difference between them, and Kiwi sat as well. "They're angry at you, for killing Sam. Killing their brothers. And two of their protectors."

"I'm sorry about that. I didn't know they, you," Bee nodded in Kiwi's direction, "were so young. And you know I wouldn't hurt Sam!" His voice pitch rose in distress.

"You were to protect Creator." Kiwi said and Bee nodded. "You didn't."

Bee winced, but nodded a second time while making his mourning more obvious. He couldn't voice the words aloud. ::I know:: he sent on a public channel.

"Was…Barricade really helping you?" Bee asked after a bit of silent staring at the asphalt.

"Yes," Beachbreak forced out. "We've been helping each other since Zambia."

Bumblebee saved his questions for another time. Instead he looked around the mech in front of him to Sam.

"Come on," Beachbreak said, struggling to get to his feet. Bee made a move to help him, but Kiwi got there first. Slowly they made their way over to the others.

"He was dying anyway," the small Cybertronian said as they walked.

Bee looked down at his friend. "What do you mean?"

"There was something wrong with his body. Scorponok found him at a hospital, about to be executed actually, but there was a reason he was at the hospital at the first place. During his time with us, he wasn't healthy. I mean…at this rate it wasn't drawn out."

He appreciated Beachbreak's attempt to find good in the situation, but it didn't make him feel better. What did was the lack of fight over handing Sam's body over to him. Bee suspected that Beachbreak had silently communicated with the Navigator. Carefully, with the most care he had ever put to a task, he took Sam into his arms and cradled him to his chest. He didn't pay attention to the particulars: a missing arm, crushed knees, signs of a lack of food and sleep, other various injuries, the crystalized salt on cheeks, and the odd bio readings he had gotten earlier. They didn't make much of a difference at this point.

* * *

**A/N:** If your upset at the rather unhappiness of this ending, you obviously haven't read my other TF stories. That being said, I was quite torn on _how_ Sam was going to die because really, his body wasn't going to last for very long. Maybe a few months. Especially if he didn't create sparklings.

Just to maybe clear that up, I had Sam go through the side effects of accelrated brain activity, which led to sleep deprevation, and all those sysptoms really don't do a body good. Shivers, high fevers, and a general overal wearing down on the mind and body. Creating sparklings allievated the extra energy, thus Sam's clarity in these past to chapters, (not that he knows that) but I don't see him allowing Sally to make a ton of sparklings again. Maybe one of two, enough where they'd always be well supervised, but eventually being filled with All Spark energy would kill him. So it realy was a choice between a violent death, or one after a decent into craziness. My sister chose a violent one.

One more chapter left! Though it's really more like an epilogue. Thanks so much for following this story!


	17. Changing Alliances

Before we get started on this last chapter of Beast, I want to thank all of you for stumbling across this fic and reading it through to the end. You guys have written over a hundred reviews, and I've read them multiple times because you guys are such awesome people and make me feel better after a hard day. THANK YOU!

* * *

A Captured Beast Within a Human Skin

_By Uniasus_

**Chapter**** 17**** – ****Changing**** Alliances**

* * *

It had been so easy to forget the world outside of their mourning circle. It was hard to ignore the effects of a battle, the structural damage of the city around him and the pain in his body spoke of that all too much. But it was easy for Beachbreak to forget that it said battle was still on going, that drones were still marching through the city, Autobots were fighting, and Starscream was flying around the sky somewhere nearby. After all, those fighting were no longer near him and the sounds of battle were ever so far away.

But the real world caught up to him in the sound of heavy metal footsteps, a shout of ::Bumblebee!:: over public comm frequencies, and the approach of Cybertronians broadcasting their Autobot IDs.

Beachbreak stirred, struggling to get up, but in the end Dundee had to help him. Bee seemed startled by the movement, but then he acknowledged the approach of the rest of his team. The scout stood up and turned toward their approach, but Beachbreak started slowly backing away. Dundee, Kiwi, and the third sparkling who decided to name himself 'Sam' after his fallen Creator moved with him.

It was a failed attempt to leave, for Prime's team came at them from multiple routes, weapons engaged and pointing at the sparklings. They all froze on the spot. "They're sparklings," Beachbreak hastened to say. Ratchet, whom he was facing, gave a start and lowered his saws. But, the quad bike noted, didn't put them away. The other Autobot's weren't so quick to take his words as truth.

"It's true," Bee choked out, "Sam…made them." He trailed off and adjusted his arms to display Samuel's body to Prime who was standing in front of the scout. Prime probably knew he was there, but Beachbreak was grateful for Bumblebee's bulk blocking him from the Autobot commander's optics.

Prime released his own mourning note and as if on cue his subordinates put away their weapons. Beachbreak took advantage of the situation to continue his edging away. He needed to retrieve Fizz, Dagger, and the other new sparkling, not to mention Cade and Scorponok. They shouldn't be left out where humans could get at them. And he had to protect Dundee, Kiwi, and Sam. He had failed so many today. He didn't want to fail another.

They made it half way to the alley where Fizz lay before Prime turned his attention to them.

"I am relieved to see you well Beachbreak. I hope you will be joining us?"

Beachbreak paused and took the time to review his cache of memories to find out what the Autobots had been talking about. Ah, returning to the United States.

"No, I won't." His feelings towards Optimus Prime were bittersweet. He was a great commander and while he used to install a feeling of loyalty in Beachbreak, that feeling had faded as he found himself abandoned beside a river. A _Con_ had come back for him before an Autobot had, or rather a Neutral as Cade had defected by that point. He was hesitant to once again align himself with such a group of mechs. Especially with his charges. "But we'll be there for Samuel's funeral."

Prime looked shocked, as did Bumblebee. "You don't wish to come back with us?" his friend asked. "Why not?"

How to put that delicately?

"My…priorities have changed. I'm sorry Prime," Beachbreak turned toward the Peterbilt, "I no longer want to fight."

Prime gave him a long look, but thankfully didn't press for more information. "At least travel with us back to Samuel's home. After the ceremony we will give you a ride to where ever you chose."

"And my family?" He choked on the last word. "I would like to give them a ceremony. Cade and Scorponok included." Beachbreak stood tall, he wouldn't give on this point. They didn't have to participate.

Ironhide shifted irritably and shared a look with Sideswipe. Prime swept his gaze down the street, tallying up the bodies.

"It would be best if the Japanese have as minimal access to our technology as possible. They already have claimed a couple of drones, and I see no reason to allow them control of anyone one of our kinds considers family. I will see if I can have them shipped back to the United States with us Beachbreak. They can share a location with Jazz."

That was good enough for him.

* * *

The funeral was not as grand Bumblebee thought it should be. Sam deserved something more. Something that matched his deeds. Not something quiet. But he understood the need for it. Sam's deeds were secret. And his human acquaintances small in number.

It had been the first time he had seen Mikaela in a while. He wished it had been under happier conditions.

Having the ceremony at the Nellis Air Force base had been easier for everyone. All the Autobots (and Beachbreak's unique band of Neutrals) were there, and as Sam had worked for the Air Force so had his friends from work so the location did not seem terribly odd.

But even so the personal ceremony Beachbreak held was quieter. It had consisted of Beachbreak sending silent prayers up to Primus and keening while kneeling before Barricade's body. Bumblebee had somewhat participated. The idea of his friend mourning alone had disturbed him, so he had stood silently and awkwardly behind his friend while cried for a variety of times beside each fallen mech. Prime too had spent some time in the empty hanger, tucked away in the corner and watching Beachbreak. Bee didn't think the neutral even noticed him. When Beachbreak finished, the Camaro helped him over to the medbay. The small mech had refused medical assistance until his family had been laid to rest.

The other bitter result of the latest escapade was cutting ties with the Americans. They couldn't dissolve NEST, it was an international organization and one that was still needed. But they switched allegiances. Ignored anything that came from the United States. NEST had bases in other countries: Italy, Peru, India, England, Australia. When the Autobot's made their choice, there had been talk of the Americans pulling out of the union all together. For the mechs who had cultivated friendships with the American soldiers, it was a bitter feeling. Bee felt it less than others; he never really connected with anyone besides Sam.

Seeing as Diego Garcia was already set up, and not fully owned by the Americans, the Autobots decided to move their headquarters there for the time being. The planes had stopped at a base near Dubai to fuel up for the last leg of the journey and under the cover of night Beachbreak and his crew disembarked.

"You sure you don't want to come with us?" Bee asked.

They were in their alt forms, getting over the cramped quarters of the planes as well as they could while restricted from transforming.

"Yes."

They sat side by side for a few moments and Bee didn't push. He had seen how edgy his friend had been around Prime and he himself was angry over the events that led to Prime telling him Beachbreak was dead. But Beachbreak was alive, next to him, and Sam was dead, buried across the world. Being mad at Prime didn't really seem to matter to him.

"You'll comm, right?"

"Only if you visit."

"So you decided on a place to stay then?"

"No," Beachbreak wiggled his handle bars, "We're going to hang out a round here for awhile, but it'll be safer if we don't stay in one place too long."

Bee gave a hum of acknowledgement. Barricade and Scorponok may have been okay, though the thought still seemed wrong in his processor, but there were plenty of other Decepticons who had not, nor seemed likely to, have a change of spark.

"I'm surprised you haven't done anything to the Swiss," Beachbreak ventured.

Bee changed his EM field to give off a smirk as well as he was able to in his Camaro guise. "It's in the works. Sideswipe's going to take down their entire government network and making all the data available to the public. I'm going to destroy that hospital."

Cora came walking over, the heart rate monitor from the hospital. Spidey was riding on top, beeping in happiness. As the sparklings came closer to the two mechs, the spider bot leaped and landed on Bee's hood.

"You sure you want to stay with me?" He asked.

Spidey nodded. Cora knelt down so the top of her monitor came just under Beachbreak's handlebars and then rubbed it on the bottom of the rubber grips.

WILL MISS she sent at Spidey. The small bot gave a little whine, a sign the feeling was mutual, but still tapped on Bee's windshield to get him to unroll the passenger window.

Most of the sparklings had decided to go off with Beachbreak: Kiwi, Dundee, Jr (for while Sam was a good name it was still hard to say), Cora, and the other sparklings from the hospital – Hinge (the TV), Broadband (the radio) and View (the video camera). Lilith, much to Spidey's disappointment, hadn't lived much past her rescue. Her spark had faded away and Spidey had clung almost obsessively to Bumblebee after that.

The planes behind them roared to life. Cora started at the sound, smacking her top on Beachbreak's handle. The small mech crooned to her in sympathy.

"They're lucky to have you," Bee offered.

"I'm lucky to have them. They…give me a reason, something I haven't had in a long time."

"Yes." Bee understood. Sam had played a similar role in his life, still did. And while Bee may not have been able to protect the human himself, what Sam gave him was still on the table. Lessons, light, love. And a small charge nestled in his cup holder.

* * *

**A/N:** And there we go, this story is finished! It certainly took me long enough.

I am planning on rewriting this, to get in good editing practice to be a published writer, and would welcome any input you guys have. I do already have a beta, so I don't need one of those. But just let me know if there were parts you found hard to follow, that you think didn't fit, or parts you'd like to see added. I think there was talk about one of Wheeljack's experiments on Sam...even if some of those ideas don't make it in the rewrite, I might be able to do a couple of side stories.

And again: thank you all you wonderful readers for following this story!


End file.
